Forgery
by AnimeFan202
Summary: All Carly ever wanted was to follow the path of those fanfiction girls and get tossed into the Naruto world. Her brother, however, is not so thrilled about being dragged along for the ride.
1. Interdimensional Travel Part One

**Well, if you're here, I just want to say that I do have every intention of finishing this story. I guess, I've just taken a bit of a roundabout way in doing it... So I understand that a lot of people, myself included, get apprehensive when an incomplete story hasn't been updated in forever... (myself included) but if I can just as for a bit of patience, I promise it will get done. ...Eventually.**

**But for now, I hope you enjoy what I have.**

**Chapter One**

_Dear Hokage,_

_This letter is written in the likely event that my children's fate will fall in your hands. I'm literally pained to say that my health is failing and they have no one left to care for them. Your village is big and thriving. I hope that they will also thrive under its care._

_-Zion Sohma_

Satisfied, I sat back in my chair and looked down at my work. It was very fancy writing. I'd probably never be able to rewrite anything this neatly ever again.

Now let's get something straight. I am not, have never been, and do not ever plan on being Zion Sohma. I don't know anyone who goes by the name. Perhaps there isn't one anywhere in existence. My name is Carly Elizabeth Sparks and I am your average, everyday otaku. For those of you who aren't familiar with the term, an otaku is basically anyone who's obsessed with manga and/or anime. For those of you who don't know what manga or anime is... you are hopeless beyond my help.

I heard a snort from behind me and saw my brother looking over my shoulder, reading the letter that was still sitting on my desk.

"What is _that_?"

Sadly, he does not share my love of anime, though he has seen the random episode every now and then. I looked up at him, knowing he was only teasing but a bit embarrassed at being caught all the same.

I smiled. "Hey, a girl can dream, right?"

My smile slowly faded as I took the time to observe my twin, but he didn't seem to notice. I took in his dirty blond hair, which was much shorter than my own yet constantly falling into his eyes. My eyes found his own hazel ones, speckled green today, that were skimming over my fake letter once more. And finally, I mentally traced a few different patterns of the freckles that were spattered across his cheeks and nose, very similar in position to the ones on my own face. We may have been born fraternal, but had I been a boy, or Luke a girl, we would have no doubt been identical.

He smiled too, then rolled his eyes and walked out of my room. (Which he had entered without my permission, I might add.) I sighed and stood up to follow. I was hopelessly obsessed, which I must say is at least better than being a hopeless romantic.

I got to the top of the stairs and heard my mother talking on the phone. She sounded sad, which wasn't too unusual. I slowly peeked around the railing to take in the sight of my mother with the telephone pressed to her ear. Her hair was more of a golden blond than ours, and her eyes were a solid light brown as opposed to hazel, but they were tired eyes. My mother had experience more in her adulthood than anyone of just thirty-six years should have had to.

"All right... okay... yes, thank you." She hung up.

Then Luke's (who was somewhere outside my line of sight) voice, "Has he woken up?"

"No."

I could almost hear my brother's nod, used to the routine. We were both ridiculously hopeful for something that may or may not even happen. Luke began to head back towards the staircase.

"Tell your sister that dinner's almost done," our mother told him.

"Okay."

When Luke got to the bottom of the stairs he looked up, saw me, and knew that I'd overheard everything. We nodded to each other silently, and I came downstairs for dinner. We had lasagna that night. My mother hardly touched her food.

It was only 7:30 when we finished, but I headed up to bed anyway. Even though the next day was Monday, there were just some days that I was ready for it to end all too soon.

About my letter... That's another thing I'm ridiculously hopeful for. I believe in all that supernatural, transportation-to-another-world stuff.

A little about me and my pathetic life: My father died when I was six years old. (And his name really was Zion, in case you're wondering.) My older brother, Taylor, is deathly ill and currently residing in the hospital. He's been in a coma for the past three weeks, and the doctors think this might be the end, though we're all still holding our breath. My mother downs anti-depressants like they're water.

Sorry if it sounds like I'm whining, but I have reason enough to if I do say so myself.

I sighed and traced my fingernail in little circles around the 'Z' of my father's first name. At last, I folded up the letter and stuck it into the front pocket of my jeans. It seemed a little unfair that I had no means of fleeing this world when I could honestly say that if I ever _did_ get out, I'd be able to not look back and have no regrets.

And with that happy thought, I fell asleep.

**... World Skip! ...**

When I woke up, my first thought was, _ugh, what the hell did I _do_ last night?_

I was lying on the ground with the sun shining in my eyes, my head pounding. Slowly, I dragged myself up to my feet, which didn't help my headache any.

In the front pocket of my jeans was a piece of paper that I vaguely remembered putting there. I took it out and recognized it as my letter. I put it back in my pocket and backed up, thoroughly confused.

In front of me was a gigantic wall. At the very top I could make out a few guards.

"Holy shit..." I murmured. I had a feeling I knew exactly where I was.

**Review please!**

_**Revised as of March 23, 2014**_


	2. Lies, Kind Of

**Chapter Two**

I stared, gaping at the massive wall before me, struck dumb. I couldn't believe it... All these years of resultless attempts and it had finally happened...

Now, don't get me wrong, I've been shocked before. I've even been 'in shock' before, which, ask anyone with a cancer patient for a brother, is a totally different animal. But I honestly could not believe it. This had been what I'd wanted though, right? _Of course it was!_ I told myself. But, wait a second, where was Luke?

I looked around, trying to take everything in despite the swirling state of my thoughts. I was in a forest, and in front of me was the Hidden Leaf Village. Okay, that much I understood. But where was my brother? I knew I'd included him in my letter... hadn't I?

I pulled it back out of my pocket and read through the words once more. Yes, he was there... but he wasn't _here._ Oh well. Maybe he'd show up later. I could only hope for that from where it was shunted to the back of my mind. I had too much to think about right now.

I glanced down at the letter one more time, as if for courage, before slipping it back into my pocket. I slowly walked a few steps closer to the wall. The guards were watching me intently now, and I tried to repress a gulp. Did I have to hit a wall so soon? (No pun intended.) Couldn't I have just appeared right in front of the gate? Granted, there were guards there too, but surely they couldn't look so imperious. I would much rather be talking to someone at eye level.

"Halt!" one of them called; I stopped abruptly. "State your business here."

"Um..." I mumbled. Just great... I'd been hoping it would be easier for me to speak to anime people than it was for me to speak to real people... but now they _were_ real people. It made my head spin a little so I stopped thinking about it.

"State your business," the man called down again, more firmly this time.

Finally, I found my voice. "I've been sent to live here by my father," I called up. The two exchanged glances, doubtful. Even from where I stood, I swear I could see the smirk on the younger one's face. My stomach fluttered, and I felt a bead of sweat slither down my back, making me shiver. They wouldn't turn me away, would they? I had nowhere else to go! I couldn't live on my own in the forest, trying to make it to the other villages! And why would _their_ reactions be any different than this one? What if-

"Surely then you won't mind seeing the Hokage about this," the same man called down, clearing calling my bluff with his skeptical tone.

I breathed a little easier. They believed me! Or, they were willing to test my explanation, at least.

"Yes," I answered, clearly relieved. "I have a letter for him."

The man jumped down. Like, literally jumped right off the wall and landed in front of me! My eyes widened, and I took a step back, gasping as he did so, but the ninja ignored my reaction. He checked me for weapons. Which I didn't have, thank God. Then he ordered me to follow him. Thankfully, he didn't try to get me to jump the wall. I followed him to the main entrance which I could now see wasn't too far away.

Actually, I suppose it sort of made sense that they weren't too suspicious. After all, I wasn't a ninja. As far as I knew, no one in my world had any chakra at all. Overall, my aura couldn't seem too threatening, especially since I was so nervous. And besides, it was their job to be suspicious.

As I followed him, I noticed that the guy wasn't too much older than I was. Maybe sixteen to my twelve. I couldn't help admiring his headband. But perhaps what was most striking was that his hair was bright blue. In my world, anyone with bright blue hair would attract attention. Here, it probably wasn't too strange.

See, what had interested Luke the most about _Naruto_ was that there were people like Sakura or Anko with pink or purple hair and that never got commented on. I'd tried explaining to him that unnatural hair colors weren't so strange in their world, (or in anime in general) but he didn't seem to catch on.

Then we actually entered the village, and I had to catch my breath again. This place was was amazing! I mean, it had looked awesome in the anime, but nothing 2-D could ever possibly do it justice. It was such a bustling city... yet it had a suburban touch to it. All the bright, on-screen colors had come to life, and something about the air just smelled... fresh. In short, it was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen.

"Are you coming or not?" grumbled my guide.

"Oh! Right, sorry," I muttered sheepishly. I hadn't realized that I'd stopped in the middle of the street. It was all a little overwhelming. The next few minutes were a blur of color and sound. I thought my head was going to snap off from me looking back and forth so much.

The guy looked back at me and smirked. "Not too used to big villages, huh?"

I blushed. "No." He seemed proud to get to be the one to show all this off. I couldn't blame him. I'd be proud to have grown up here, too. Not much later I found myself standing in front of the door to the Hokage's office. As the young ninja in front of me knocked on the door, I felt my hands begin to tremble and my throat was suddenly extremely dry. Wow... I was really here.

"Enter," called an old man's voice from the other side.

Shakily, I followed my guide inside. It was still the old man. Which made me wonder, what was going on in the story? Had the Chunin exams started yet? Had Naruto even graduated yet? What if he was only, like, six years old? That would completely change the storyline as I knew it!

The blue-haired ninja made a bow and I quickly followed suit. The old man nodded kindly. "How can I help you?" he asked.

Even though he'd clearly been addressing me, it was my reluctant guide who answered. "She claims her father sent her here to live, sir." His voice was neutral, but his words left an almost palpable space for doubt.

Suddenly, I was seized by panic. Oh, crap! What was I going to say?!

"She has a letter."

Oh right... I have a letter. I reached into my back pocket and pulled it out. Hands still trembling, I handed it over. He smiled at me as he took it as if to tell me not to be so nervous.

There are certain times in scary situations like this that my brain just clicks on and starts working again. Thankfully, that happened now. My thoughts raced as I began to make up a backstory. I silently asked whatever deity they prayed to here for all those years I'd spent on fanfiction creating character life stories. If he asked for one, I would be ready.

The old man read my letter through a few times before turning to the ninja. "Koda, if you will, could I have a moment with her, please?" The boy nodded and walked out. The Hokage sat behind his desk. He slid the letter across the desk toward me. He motioned to a chair leaning against the wall. "Sit," he invited.

I tried not to seem too rude as I dragged it over, my movements loud and lacking all of his easy grace, and nearly plopped down across from him. I was still a little shaky.

He smiled kindly at me. "You don't have to be so nervous."

I smiled back slightly. I couldn't imagine how bad my expression was. I'd never been a particularly horrible liar, but this was a lot to take in.

"So, young lady, your father's letter was vague, but I'd imagine you have quite a story. What is your name?"

"Carly..." I cursed myself suddenly for not having thought to use a fake Japanese name. But, it was out now, and things were going to be complicated enough without me trying to remember my own name.

"Where did you live?"

"A tiny village just outside of the Sand ninja country."

He nodded. I wasn't sure where my answer to his rapid-fire question had come, but I was relieved. It made it seem all the more believable. I wondered briefly if he was trying to catch me off guard.

"Where are your parents?"

"My mother passed away when I was very little. I can hardly remember her. My dad got very sick a couple months ago," I ended quietly.

Again he nodded. I hoped he didn't question me on my time in between. I didn't even know how long it would take someone to get from there to here!

"What about your siblings?"

I'd almost forgotten that I'd included Luke in the letter. I felt a pang of some undefinable emotion in my chest, but for now I pushed it away. I had to take care of myself before I got to worrying about the fate of my twin.

"My older brother was also very sick. But he's been plagued for years. Lately he'd been getting weaker and weaker and we were informed that it was only a matter of time..." I looked down for this part. "I left the day my dad died. My other brother didn't think it was right to leave... even though our nii-san wouldn't be able to tell we were there anyway." I didn't even have to think to say 'nii-san' instead of 'brother'. I wondered if I really did belong in this world. All that Japanese stuff came pretty naturally to me. Anyway, he didn't question it.

"He'll be following along later?"

I hesitated. This was the one part of my story I couldn't be certain of. So I'd have to improvise the script a bit.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I couldn't wait to get out. There were too many sad things in our old home. But my brother is very bonded with it. Either way, he'll wait to make the decision until our other brother dies. That may be in an hour or a week. It may have happened already," I added quietly. I shuddered, hit with the truth of that statement, but again I pushed it away.

"Well, I'm sorry for your loss. Could you send Koda back in, please? There's something I need to discuss with him."

I nodded and stood up. "Yes, sir."

Koda was leaning back against the wall when I left the room. "Um, he wants to see you." My voice seemed to peter out as the sentence ended, but he'd heard. Without acknowledging me, he walked in and closed the door behind him.

I slid down the wall and took a deep breath. They were probably talking about me. Had he not believed me after all? I just sat there with my eyes closed for a minute, focusing on breathing in and out. Then I heard the door open and I jumped up. Both Koda and the old man were standing in the doorway, watching me.

Koda tossed something small and shiny at me, but due to my terrible reflexes, I missed completely and had to bend down to pick it up. When I rose, flushed, the Hokage told me, "That's the key to your apartment. Koda will help you find it. The rent will be withheld for a while, but you will need to get a job."

"Oh, I know!" I answered. "I'm planning on looking for one as soon as I'm settled in. Today maybe."

He smiled at me, and this one seemed somewhat more genuine than the last. "Don't overdue yourself." And then he returned to his room. Safe!

"Let's go."

I jumped. I'd forgotten Koda was here. Actually, he'd made it halfway down the hallway and I hadn't even noticed. I hurried after him.

Now, I can tell you that my apartment wasn't too far away from the Hokage's building and there weren't any complicated twists or turns or anything, but there was no way I would remember my way around for a while.

Koda left me as soon as I got the door open.

It was a simple apartment. The kitchen and bedroom sort of blended into each other. There was a bathroom off the kitchen and that was about it. There was a bed and a couch. A table, and a few pots and pans in the cupboards above the sink and oven.

I sat down on the bed and tried breathing again, but everything was suddenly hitting me at once. Oh no...

Suddenly I was cold, dizzy, and breathless all at the same time.

I mentioned before that I know what going into shock feels like.

So I was expecting it when the world went black.

**Review please!**

**Wow, I hadn't expected this chapter to be so long... I hope you liked it!**

**I'd like to thank **_**ethereal tears, maxridelover, Mage666, **_**and **_**Sasuke's Pal **_**for reviewing the first chapter.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

_**Revised as of March 23, 2014.**_

_**Revised December 9, 2012**_


	3. Interdimensional Travel Part Two

**Chapter Three**

When I woke up it was dark out. Even in the middle of the village, the view of the stars was clear and beautiful, but they made me sigh nonetheless. So much for going to search for a job that afternoon. I didn't trust myself not to get completely lost when it was light out, so there was no way I was going to leave the house now.

I began searching through the cupboards. Just as I'd thought, they were empty except for the one with the various pots and pans.

And... what was this? Underneath one of the pans I found a little envelope. There was money in it. Not much, but enough to get me through for food for the next week or so. At the bottom there was a paper with a signature on it. My heart swelled with gratitude at this kind gesture. It could only have come from the Hokage.

I smiled. I knew they'd tried to portray just how nice the old man was in the minimal screen time he got, but this really took the cake. I'd have to thank him the next time I saw him. Though I'd just woken up, I couldn't stifle the yawn that arose.

For now I might as well go back to sleep...

**...**

_Luke was walking into my room. He had the same look on his face that he got every time we went to visit Taylor at the hospital. I could tell he was sad, but to the rest of the world he would just seem impassive._

_He walked over to my bed which was unmade, just as I'd left it. He made to run a hand over the surface, but pulled back his fingers before they could actually make contact, as if the simple touch would burn him, and turned away._

_He turned to my desk, which was clear. There was nothing on it. After all, I'd taken my letter with me._

_This time, he didn't pull back. Luke ran his hand across the smooth surface, eyes downcast._

**...**

I woke with a jolt. I wondered if that had really happened. After all, to the rest of the world back home, I must have just disappeared. But could this dream... or vision... or whatever I'd just experienced really be trusted to accurately represent what was going on back home?

I felt a surge of homesickness, if not for home, then for my brother at least. And beneath that, I felt a stab of guilt. He already had his hands full. Luke didn't need this burden too.

But that's why I'd wanted him to come with me!

I shook my head. I couldn't focus on Luke. Not right now anyway. It was light out, and I had things to do! I propelled myself out of bed, not feeling nearly as pumped up as I was trying to fool myself into being. I really did have a busy day ahead of me, though. For one, an alarm clock would be nice, but that would have to come after I bought clothes and got something for breakfast, and only if I had the money for it. I'd need to start my job search today too...

Maybe it was a coincidence, but immediately after I left the building I ran into the old man. Like, almost literally plowed him over.

"Oh!" I exclaimed as I caught myself just in time. I blushed profusely and made him an awkward bow. "I'm so sorry!"

He chuckled. "No harm done."

I was aware that my face was still bright red as I continued to smile like a moron. He's not as fragile as he looks, I reminded myself.

"How was your night?" he asked.

"Um, it was alright." He seemed to be waiting for an explanation so I continued, "It kind of all just hit me when I got home, though."

He nodded sagely. "I'm sure you miss your brother," he commented. I wondered again if he was trying to catch me off guard. Whatever the reason, I couldn't help the lump that rose in my throat unexpectedly. Whatever I said next, I knew it would be genuine.

"I do," I responded, realizing how much I really did miss Luke. We may not share a lot of similar interests, but he was a fixture in my life that I wasn't used to being without. It was funny how little I'd really appreciated his presence before... Him never saying much of anything and me, too caught up in my anime and video games to really notice. Seriously, we saw each other every day, went to the same school even, yet when was the last time we'd had a meaningful conversation?

I looked to the sky. I'd seen many anime characters do just this when they had their dramatic moments. I was glad that I could do that too now without feeling out of place. For just this reason Luke was one of my only true friends. He may not have understood me, but he never judged me.

"I really hope he decides to come," I said.

The Third smiled at me and nodded. "Well, I'm sure you have a lot to do. Have a nice day."

"You too," I mumbled as he walked away. I just stared after him for a moment. Then I remembered. "Oh, wait!"

He turned. "Thank you. For the money, I mean. Well, actually, for everything, really."

"I was hoping you'd find it. I figured you'd need it. You certainly traveled light." If this was hinting towards suspicion I ignored it and shrugged.

"I didn't really have anything I wanted to bring." This was not true. I had various collections of artifacts from different anime that I'd collected over the years that I sort of wish I had with me. It also would've been nice to have brought a change of clothes... or two. Well, I never had been the best planner...

This time he was really leaving and I let him. I began walking in the opposite direction where I could see the beginnings of a supermarket area. I was soon lost in the crowd. This was okay, seeing as I really wasn't too sure where I was going or what I was looking for first.

In such a crowded place it wasn't too surprising that I bumped into someone, again literally.

"I'm sorry," we said at the same time. I looked up and jumped, like, twelve feet in the air when I realized who it was. Okay, that's an exaggeration... but still, you get what I mean.

In case you haven't noticed, I'm bad around real people. The only one I can really talk to is my brother.. So if I ever bumped into you in some crowded place, I'd probably jump then mumble something and hurry away. There is also the possibility that I would stutter.

This moment called for all of these because I had just bumped into the one and only Iruka Umino. One of the main characters? No, not exactly. But I'd count him as one of the nicest. I felt my head get all spinny again...

"Are you okay?" he asked, genuinely concerned, and probably not without reason. I couldn't imagine what I looked like in this state.

But, for perhaps the first time in my life, I said something to continue the conversation. "I'm a little lost, actually."

"Lost?" I looked up at his face, cautiously. He seemed confused, and I knew I had to give a better explanation.

"Y-yes. I just moved here yesterday, and I was hoping to get some shopping done."

"Oh. Well, the grocery store is just a little farther ahead, and right across the way is a place for clothes shopping. Hmm... what else?" he said thoughtfully.

"Um, that should be great for now," I said hurriedly.

He smiled kindly. "Well, take care," he told me, waving and going back to... wherever he was going.

"You too," I mumbled after him. While it may have been exciting to meet him, it turned out that I wasn't terribly skilled at situations that required me to be social in _any_ world. (Really, I'm more like pre-Chunin Exams Hinata than I like to admit.)

Following his directions, I found both shops relatively easily and bought what I needed. For now anyway. I made sure to try to save as much as I could just in case Luke did end up coming after me. Once that was done I felt my stomach grumble. It had to be around lunch time and I'd never eaten breakfast, my apartment lacking anything edible.

I continued walking a little and then, to my delight, found Ichiraku's right in front of me! I grinned. Ichiraku's was cheap, and I'd never been to an actual ramen stand before. There are just some things that are way too hard to find in America!

Eagerly, I sat down on one of the stools near the end, setting down my bags beside me. There were three other people down near the other end, all minding their own business. Funny. This had always been a place I'd pictured going to with friends. Fast food restaurants were one thing; this place was set up for groups.

I could see Ayame and her father working. Teuchi turned around once I sat down though. He smiled at me and I could see all his wrinkles. "What can I get you?"

I ordered one bowl of ramen. Nothing fancy, but it had been so long since anyone in my house had eaten ramen that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

"Here you go," he said after a few minutes, setting the bowl down in front of me.

"Thank you."

Oh crap... I hadn't thought about the whole chopsticks issue until right now... I tried to position them through my fingers, but they kept slipping. Finally, though they were probably wrong, I got them in a way where I could pick up the noodles. It was by no means a perfect technique, but it would work for now. From watching others, I'd learned that this was something that had to be done in a somewhat fluid motion. Well, at least no one was staring.

It was at this moment that I overheard Teuchi and Ayame talking.

"I don't think our sign is working," she was telling him. "We haven't had a single person here looking for a job and we've had the sign up for almost a month now."

I looked up at her words, fireworks nearly exploding in front of my eyes. "Excuse me," I said.

They looked at me. "Yes?"

"Did you say you're looking for employees?"

"Yes," Teuchi responded. "We've started a delivery service, but we don't have time to go out and deliver the orders ourselves. Would you be interested?"

"Yes, sir!" I said emphatically. "I was looking for a job actually." This was too good to be true!

"Really?"

"Yes! Just tell me what you need done."

So we got my work schedule made up and then he told me that I didn't even have to pay for my lunch, seeing as I was going to be working it off. I was going to start the day after tomorrow. My grin was wide, spreading all the way from one side of my face to another. What luck!

"Thank you," I said, bowing to him, too.

He chuckled. "No problem."

I began to walk away when I saw somebody awfully familiar heading this way... He smiled when he saw me.

"So," said Iruka, "I see you found the place."

"Yes. Thank you." I told myself that there was really no good reason for me to be this surprised. He did live in this village, after all, and I knew that this was his restaurant of choice as well.

"No problem. I ran into the Hokage while he was making his rounds," he said, sitting down on the stool that I had just vacated.

"Really? So did I," I told him, surprised and pleased that our conversation had continued. Iruka nodded then ordered. I stood there, unsure if he was going to address me again.

"We started talking about you." I blinked, even more shocked. Today sure was a strange day. "I'm sorry if I was staring earlier. It's just, I'm used to recognizing most of the kids around the village. I taught just about all of them once."

"You teach?" I assumed this would be a safe thing to say. After all, I wasn't supposed to know anything about him. But what was more astonishing was that he'd thought I'd gotten that weird look because he'd been staring, (not that I'd even noticed at the time!) not because I was just some random freak off the streets.

"Yes, at the ninja academy." I nodded. "Your name is Carly Sohma?"

"Yes sir." I'd chosen Sohma because it was a common enough last name in Japan. I hoped so anyway.

"Iruka Umino." We shook hands. This was odd because I hadn't thought they did too much of the hand shaking thing in Japanese culture. Oh well... "He told me your story."

"...Oh..." I wasn't sure how to respond to this. Then again, I wasn't terribly certain how to respond to anything he was telling me.

"I'm sorry about your parents and your brother."

Our conversation had just taken a turn for the awkward. I mumbled a thanks with my head down. When I glanced up at him he looked sympathetic and a bit far away, if you get what I mean.

"I lost my own parents when I was younger," he told me.

I repeated his 'sorry' and began to walk away. "Well, I guess I'll see you around... maybe..." (Hopefully...)

"Yes. Oh, by the way, what is your other brother's name?"

"Luke," I responded without hesitation.

"If I see him, I'll make sure to let somebody know." And that was the end of it.

I walked away for good this time. It was time to return to my new home and begin putting everything away. Maybe then it would begin to feel just a little bit more like home.

**...**

"Ow..." Luke muttered as he landed on his back with a thump. He rubbed the back of his head, wincing. Where was he? One minute he was standing in his backyard, the next he was falling.

He looked around. He was in a forest, much like the one in his backyard. But for some reason, there was just something strange about this place...

He forced himself to get to his feet and walk a little ways until he found himself in front of a giant wall. And he meant, _giant. _He whistled at the impressive sight before him.

"Hey, you!" called down one of the guards. "What's your name?"

Luke jumped a little. He hadn't been paying any attention to them. They'd been so silent...

"Luke," he called up. The two exchanged a look.

"Sohma?" The spokesman called down.

Luke wasn't sure what made him respond, "Yes, sir." It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. _Sure, why not? _he thought. For all he knew, he was hallucinating for the moment; it wouldn't matter if he lied or not.

The quiet one nodded to the one speaking. "We've been waiting for you."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto.**

**I'd like to thank **_**Mage666, snakebite3, ethereal tears, maxridelover, xYama-chanx, **_**and **_**Sasuke's Pal **_**for reviewing chapter 2.**

_**Revised March 23, 2014.**_


	4. Settling In

**Chapter Four**

Well, as things in my life usually go, I didn't quite make it home. I'd decided that maybe I had gotten just what I'd always wanted... but it was nearly guaranteed that nothing else was going to go right. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how it's possible to get lost/sidetracked when you're focused on retracing your steps.

To add insult to injury, I was _in sight_ of my apartment when I got distracted. Well, even I had enough common sense to put my bags away. But as soon as I did that I rushed back outside and hurried down a different path. It would still be light out for hours, I figured, why shouldn't I go explore?

While exploring, I couldn't help but notice once more the grandeur of even the run-down parts of the village. There were so many video games out now with 3-D versions of the Leaf Village. This, actually living it, beat all of those. No contest.

After wandering around aimlessly for a while I found a place that I knew well. The training grounds. I took a deep breath. Maybe it was just me, but the air seemed so much lighter here. Yeah... it was probably just me.

I didn't really expect to see anybody I knew there, but I walked in anyway. And wouldn't you know, to my surprise, the first people I saw were the members of Gai's team. I froze and immediately pulled a Hinata. In other words, I immediately hid behind the nearest tree. Then it sank in that Neji could see me anyway, (if he was looking) and it would probably look pretty bad if I was hiding. So I stepped out and just kind of stood there and stared for another minute or two.

I jumped a little when Gai called his team together, but it wasn't in an effort to search out the intruder. For a minute he was talking about how they'd had a great day of training, and then they broke apart and headed for home.

I could've sworn I heard Neji say something about an "annoying little pest" and that made me jump again, but it wasn't long before they'd walked away. I leaned back against the tree and breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't have been talking about me.

"Excuse me."

I'm ashamed to say that my shriek sounded incredibly girly, and I did that anime thing where the character brings both her hands to her heart. I whirled around and saw Rock Lee on the branch behind me, watching curiously. I wish I could say that I got my wits back and said something intelligent, but honestly, I was pretty close to hyperventilating.

"I'm sorry for startling you," he continued. Yeah, no kidding. "But may I ask why you were watching my team?"

Crap. Where were all the good excuses when I needed them? "Um..."

He was still watching, waiting for an answer.

"You see..." I said, laughing nervously, "I'm new here and where I'm from there aren't any ninjas so..." I trailed off once more, but thankfully this time he wasn't waiting for me to continue. His face lit up a bit and I was suddenly grateful that at least so far I'd only been confronted by some of the nicer characters.

"Oh, I see! So you were curious."

"Yeah." I tried to relax a little. He understood. Or... at least, he thought he did. Which was good enough for me. "But I really wasn't here that long." For some reason it still felt like I should be apologizing.

"It is perfectly fine!" he assured me. Lee actually seemed a bit excited that someone had taken in interest in his team's training. "I'm sure my sensei would be thrilled to hear that another youthful soul has decided on their path in life!"

I had been wondering how long we could go without mentioning Gai. "Path?" I questioned.

"You did travel here to become a ninja, yes?"

My eyes grew wide as I took in his meaning. "Oh no! Not really..." And now I was doing the panicked waving both your hands in agitation thing. So I decided that it was pretty safe to share my 'life story' with Rock Lee as well.

"I'm sorry to hear that," he told me when I was finished. "My own parents died when I was very young." It was a bit shocking to hear this. To the extent of my knowledge, they never went farther into Lee's past than his time in the academy.

"I didn't know that," I said stupidly. Stupidly because why _should_ I have known that?

"I've lived with my grandparents my whole life." Well, that would explain his humble, hard-working lifestyle. "But anyway," he continued a bit more cheerily, "when will your brother be joining us?"

My heart fell, just a little. "I'm not sure he _will_ be joining us..." I mumbled quietly.

Lee seemed more hopeful than I was. "Come now. How well do you know your brother?"

The question came seemingly out of nowhere. "A little better than he knows himself," I answered automatically. It was more or less true. I'm sure Luke felt the same way about me. Besides the only one who spent more time with Luke, other than Luke himself, was me. And vice versa.

"So what do you think he's going to do?"

This question was harder to answer. After all, this decision didn't really count much for what Luke _wanted_, did it? But I really did think that, given the choice, he would join me. Confidently, I answered, "I think he'll come."

"Then he'll come," Lee concluded, even more confidently than me. For a minute or two I couldn't stop smiling. My change in attitude seemed to please him, and we walked out of the training grounds together. It wasn't long before I saw what was perhaps the best sight in the world. Scratch that, in _all_ the worlds.

I may be prone to copying anime postures and behaviors, but I have never done the running-tackle-hug thing. Not until today anyway.

As soon as I saw my brother, escorted by the same guard who'd brought me to the Hokage, I sprinted toward him and tackled him to the ground. Luke for his part, couldn't manage much more than an "Ooof!" but I think that qualified as "It's so good to see you!"

Koda seemed a bit surprised, but apparently he didn't think Luke was in enough danger to drag me off of him. Slowly, Luke and I rose up, me happier than I'd been in a long time.

Lee looked more even more surprised than Koda, and a bit confused too. "Wow," he murmured "the resemblance sure is striking."

I looked at our dirty blond hair, which Luke always argued was more brown than blond. Our hazel eyes, which I was sure were more green than brown. The freckles spattered across our cheeks and noses, which we both agreed looked cooler than any constellation. Sometimes I forget just how close to identical we appear.

"When did you get here?" I exclaimed.

"Uh... a couple minutes ago?" Luke guessed. He seemed a bit dazed. Then he saw Rock Lee standing behind me. I'm not sure if he recognized him or not. I couldn't remember if Luke had seen any episodes with Lee in them.

I stepped back so they could get a clear view of each other. "Lee, this is my twin brother, Luke. Twin Brother Luke, this is Rock Lee."

I had another panic moment, wondering whether Lee had even told me his name or not. But if he hadn't, he didn't notice because the two stepped forward to shake hands.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Your sister has told me much."

"Yeah... nice to meet you, too."

Then Lee turned to me. "Well, I'm sure the two of you have much to do today. I'll leave you. It was nice meeting you, Carly. I'll be sure to tell Neji that our spy is nothing to worry over."

"Uh, thanks I guess. It was nice meeting you, too."

"So," Luke said, turning to me once Lee had walked away, "this is what you do when I'm not around?" I could tell he was joking "Talk about me with weird, random kids you find in the streets?"

I laughed. It was so good to see him again! Koda was looking at me strangely. I must've seemed like a completely different person with my brother around. I _felt_ like a different person!

Koda cleared his throat. "If you'll excuse me, I need to take your brother to the Hokage."

I didn't see why this was a problem. "Okay. I'll come with you."

Koda gave me a cold look. "I'm sure Lord Hokage would like to see him alone."

They walked away, Luke glancing back over his shoulder at me. I must admit that I was a bit steamed at having been talked to that way. I mean, sure I can get in the way a lot and I really hold no authority here, but was that really necessary?

I returned to my apartment. (And found the way all by myself!) But once I was there, and considerably cooled down, it occurred to my why the Hokage might want to talk to Luke by himself. What if he was testing my story? My heart jumped into my throat. I hadn't told Luke anything!

It only took about fifteen minutes, but I must say, I was in quite the panicked state for the duration of the time. When I saw Luke getting escorted here I jumped up and ran down to meet him at the door. I'd failed to notice earlier that it was the Hokage escorting him home and not our surly guide. Luke didn't seem nervous, but I sure was.

But to my surprise the Hokage greeted me with a friendly smile. "It appears that everything here is in order," he told me.

Really? I had to say I was a bit suspicious. Was it really that easy? What had Luke told him?

As soon as I brought Luke up to the apartment, I pounced in with my interrogation. Luke had already flopped down on the couch. (I sort of hoped he wouldn't mind sleeping there because I wasn't too keen on giving up the bed.)

"What did you tell him?"

Luke looked over lazily. "That our parents were dead and I'd waited until Taylor died to come join you here."

I gaped in astonishment. "How did you know to tell him that?"

"I did read your letter, you know."

"That letter hardly said anything!" I exclaimed.

Luke smiled. "Oh, come on, Carly. I know you a little better than you know yourself."

**Review please! **

**Unfortunately, Carly will soon learn that it isn't all that easy.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

**I would like to thank **_**ethereal tears, Sasuke's Pal, jaizina, **_**and **_**XxDarkSarcasm1010xX**_** for reviewing chapter three!**

_**Revised March 23, 2014**_


	5. First Encounter

**Thank you if you've stuck with me this far! Hopefully, the story will start to pick up, now that all my OCs are where they should be. **

**Forgery**

**Chapter Five**

Let me tell you, if you've never shared a room before and haven't been to too many sleepovers, it's weird waking up with someone else across the room. Luke and I had agreed to switch off. Since I'd gotten the bed the night before, he got it last night. Therefore, I was sleeping on the couch.

I looked up at the clock. It was almost eight. Damn. I'd promised Teuchi that I'd be to work at eight-thirty.

I got up as silently as possible. Knowing Luke he'd probably be asleep for hours. I wasn't much of an early riser, but I didn't know anyone who could out-sleep my brother. That's why I nearly jumped out of my skin when I groggy voice murmured, "Where're you goin'?" just as I was about to walk out the door.

When I looked over (after I'd restarted my heart) I saw Luke propped up on one elbow, staring at me, half asleep.

"Work," I answered.

"Work?" This didn't seem to register with him. "But... you're too young to get a job..."

"Not here," I replied. Luke looked around, then out the window, then he sat up. He seemed to truly wake up then.

Okay, go ahead. Call me a coward, but I made some hurried excuse and rushed out the door before I had to see Luke's reaction. I still wasn't too sure about how he felt about this. I've never purposely hurt my brother. But sometimes I just don't think things through. And then I get the two of us into trouble... a bit like this, only this time I (sort of) knew what I was doing.

But I would deal with that later. For the time being, it was so nice out! I closed my eyes and just breathed. Since when had the air tasted this good? I judged it was early spring. I was in such a good mood, I nearly skipped to Teuchi and Ayame's stand.

The old man smiled when he saw me. "Right on time," he praised.

"Reporting for duty," I answered cheerily.

He chuckled. "Well, someone's in a good mood. All settled in then?" I nodded. "That's good. And I've heard your brother showed up."

Wow, for such a big place, who knew Konoha was such a gossip pound? Teuchi led me around back where a cart sat. It was piled high with ramen packages. I was in for a busy day.

"For your first service," Teuchi said, handing me a map. "When you're done with this, come back for the next one."

I looked at the map. There was a little you-are-here symbol and one big red line directing me to a destination not too far away.

"Wait a second," I said, my eyes widening a little. "This is all for _one customer?_"

The old man chuckled again. And Ayame, who'd come to stand behind him, laughed too. "Oh, you'll come to know him very well," she told me. "Naruto's our best customer!"

I don't know what my expression looked like, but my knees went a little week at the mention of his name. _Holy shit..._ I was going to meet Naruto!

I'm sure I had this really dopey grin on my face as I hauled the cart off and tried my best to follow Teuchi's map. Luckily, I'd come to learn that it really wasn't too hard to find your way around Konoha, regardless of its size. Like with any new place, the landscape just took a little getting used to.

I took a deep breath as I stood in front of what I hoped was his apartment. Hesitantly and eagerly at the same time, I knocked on his door.

After not too long he opened it, looking surprised. I couldn't imagine he got too many visitors. I don't know if he noticed that I froze as soon as I saw him, but boy did his face light up when he saw the Ichiraku's cart.

"Wow! Old Man Teuchi said they would get the delivery service up soon!" He looked up at me with his trademark grin. "Gee, thanks!"

"Oh, uh... yeah..." I mumbled. God, I was _worse_ than Hinata! He began to pull the cart inside. Breaking the awkward silence, I said the dumbest thing ever. "Um, shouldn't you be in school?"

Ugh, why was I asking? One, he hated school! Two, it wasn't exactly like I wanted him to leave. But to my surprise, his smile grew. "We're starting late today because of the graduation test!"

I felt my stomach flutter a little. So that was today. I noticed now that he was wearing his goggles which should've been a dead giveaway.

"The test is today?" I repeated.

"Yup! Remember the name Naruto Uzumaki, because after today I'm gonna be the most amazing ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village!"

I felt a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. "I'm sure you will be," I told him. He would become a ninja... just not like he expected to...

I realized that I was kind of just awkwardly standing there so I made some mumbled excuse and left.

Oh my god. I can't believe that just happened!

_Believe it_, I told myself. I giggled as I walked back to Ichiraku's. Well, I wouldn't say 'walked'. I was very nearly dancing on air!

To be honest, the rest of my day wasn't anything special. Thankfully, everything ran smoothly after that. I found everything with the map I'd been given. I was done for the day around noon. Teuchi then treated me to lunch. It made me sort of sad that Ayame and her father only really got one episode dedicated to them. They never showed just how nice some characters are!

After that, I was free to go. But I didn't really have anywhere _to _go. So I sort of just wandered towards the general vicinity of my apartment.

I was tempted to go look for the academy and try to sneak in to watch the graduation ceremony... but I figured I'd tested my luck enough for one week.

Because I'm so easily distracted, I've never stayed bored for long. I was sure I saw a flash of something shiny overhead. And for a minute I was sure it was a ninja. But hey, could it hurt to check? I began walking towards what I thought would be his general route.

Now I know what you're thinking. Wow, this girl must have a severe case of ADD or something.

Well, I almost wish I could contradict that, but since I've never been officially tested... Anyway, my friends kind of just got into the habit of calling me a diptard whenever I had one of my "moments".

I don't know how they came up with it or if the word has any actual meaning, but I've heard, "God, Carly, you're such a diptard sometimes!" enough to get the gist.

The only schedules I've ever been able to stick to are my anime ones.

So, this fake route led me to Luke if you want to get right down to it and not go through all the other shiny things I thought I saw. I'd left him some money so he could go buy himself whatever he needed. I didn't expect him to just sit around the house all day.

But was a bit of a shock to be strolling down an unknown street and end up in front of the training field.

God! Does _every _street lead here? Oh, and Luke was there. He was the only one there actually. And he had a soccer ball, which I must say made my day considerably brighter.

I'm sure this isn't true, but I'm pretty sure that just about everybody has tried out a sport from one time or another. Even the people in Naruto. Remember all those kids messing around with a soccer ball in Gaara's memories? (Maybe this wasn't the point, but I _so_ would've played soccer with Gaara!)

Anyway, Luke and I had tried out many sports. Though not always at the same time. However, they didn't always last as long for us as they did for others.

Whenever Taylor got sick again everything around our house and our lives kind of froze. One day we'd be star examples of the hard-working athlete. The next we suddenly forgot to stay after for practice. Or we'd find ourselves moving around Taylor's hospital bed on Saturday morning instead of at our game or meet where we were supposed to be. All the coaches had no choice but to cut us, and any practices done by ourselves were decidedly less enthusiastic.

But there was a time when Taylor was doing really well. Like, he was healthy for a _really _long time, by his standards. And Luke and I tried soccer. We were there for the whole season! We weren't able to go back next season, but that's beside the point.

While we each had our favored sports, we'd both really gotten into soccer. And even though we never went back to play on an actual team ever again, it was a great way to blow off steam to just go kick a ball around a field.

I raced over to him and he smiled when he saw me. He didn't even say anything to me. We just started playing.

It was like a one-one-one game. It was pretty fair since neither of our offense skills were much to speak of. Luke was an amazing goalie, but during times like this he didn't get his usual advantage of standing in the goal, getting to watch the whole scene unroll in front of him. And I don't like to brag, but I was a pretty kick-ass defender. But Luke was faster which, made my job a lot harder.

I don't know how long we chased each other back and forth across that field. (Which seems a lot bigger when you're running across it.) Sometimes one of us would come pretty close, but no one had scored when our game came to an abrupt stop.

Luke got really close to where my 'goal' was. If he got to this point I wasn't sure I'd be able to get one on him to neutralize the score again. So in a desperate attempt to keep things equal, I slide-tackled. This was risky because, like I said, he was faster and if I didn't jar him as badly as I was hoping to he'd be able to get to the ball much faster than I would. I was hoping to go with the usual element of surprise. After all, he knew it was a risky tactic, too.

So when I slide-tackled and the ball slid out of his control, I felt triumphant. It had worked! A little too well. I heard him suck in a breath as he went down with me.

We got pretty tangled trying to right ourselves, and if it wasn't my brother I was down on the ground with, it would've been pretty awkward.

But anyway, it got so that his sneaker scraped across my forehead. And when we sat up, there was blood running down one side of my face from a small cut right above my right eye.

"Oh, crap..." Luke said when he saw.

I gingerly touched my finger to the spot, but since my hands were fairly coated with dirt, it stung.

"Double crap," I said, a bit annoyed with myself. I didn't know how else to dab at it other than to use the collar of my shirt. So I did just that.

Luke, noticing my dilemma, took off his own shirt and handed it to me. Because for _him _it's sociably acceptable. (Damn you, genetics...)

Needless to say, his originally white shirt was soon very pink. Who knew such a small cut could bleed so much? Realizing that we had no band-aids at home, my brother and I trooped back to the marketplace to buy some.

I wish I could say that we did this casually, but we got quite a few strange looks. What with my brother shirtless and me holding his shirt up to my head, the blood splotches clearly visible.

Once we walked past a group of teenage girls and I swear I saw them go all heart-eyed over the sight of him. How creepy! Why is it that most teenage girls will swoon over any male without a shirt on?

One of my friends had a poster of a real actor without his shirt on, and she kept going on and on about how 'dreamy' he was. All I could do was think, _why? because he's half naked? _But, I digress. I waited while Luke went up to the counter with the little box of band-aids in his hand.

It was then that I ran into Iruka for the third time. Or rather, he ran into us. He stopped at the sight. "Whoa. What happened?"

I reckoned he saw miniscule injuries like this all the time, so I just sighed and said, "My brother and I were playing a bit too hard."

I told him about how we'd met up and how Luke had bought a soccer ball. He smiled, though he seemed to be a bit sad. "Well, I suppose it's good that you found him."

"Yeah," I said as Luke walked out to me and handed over the box. Then he seemed to take notice of Iruka while I gave him back his shirt.

"Hey."

They shook hands and introduced themselves.

"Nice to meet you."

Luke, never known for self-consciousness, put his shirt back on, bloodstains and all.

"Is everything alright?" I asked finally. I couldn't get over how cheerful he normally was. The cheer that was mysteriously lacking at the moment.

"Oh, yes. It's just... we had the graduation exam today. Every student passed... except for one."

"Oh..." He must have been down because he'd had to fail Naruto. I guess I couldn't blame him. There was no way for him to know what would happen tonight. "Well, don't worry. I'm sure everything will turn out fine."

He smiled sadly, once again and walked away.

Luke must have noticed something was off because he kept looking back and forth between me and Iruka's retreating figure. "What's going on?" he asked. "It's just one insignificant kid, right?"

I didn't quite know what to say, so I just laughed.

**Review please!**

**Ugh, I'm not too pleased with this chapter. Probably because it was written in short bursts, most without much inspiration so a lot of it came out sounding awkward and... not right.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

_**Revised March 23, 2014**_


	6. The Outburst

**Chapter Five**

Luke was starting to worry me. I mean, he wasn't normally super loud and bursting with energy or anything, but as the days wore on he just got quieter and quieter.

Today was the day that marked an entire week since our arrival here. Well, a week and a day for me.

I'm a bit ashamed to say that I've fallen into a bad habit. Luke seems to be in a deeper state of thought in the morning, so I always make sure to leave for work before he wakes up.

Today, however, I learned the downside to this plan. Teuchi and Ayame get there much earlier than I ever would have expected, and since I was starting to get there earlier Teuchi had decided that it would be a lot more convenient to everyone if I started my shift earlier.

Our main customers were Naruto and Choji. (Go figure) I rarely saw them though because their seemingly endless supply of ramen was being dropped off before they had to be awake. How Naruto managed to eat so much ramen in the course of a week I'll never know.

Anyway, my job didn't have set hours. I got to go home whenever I was finished with the shipment for the day.

Today, I got done a little before 1:30 PM. For a moment I seriously considered just walking around the village. Then I inwardly kicked myself. _What the hell is wrong with you? For God's sake, he's your brother!_

So I steeled my courage and headed towards what was now home.

...

I opened the door to the apartment, just listening to the silence. After a moment I walked in and closed the door behind me. Still no sound from inside. This silence was anything but peaceful.

I walked around the little corner between the door and the main room. Luke was up and dressed, but he didn't look at me. He was sitting on the bed looking down at something in his lap. I recognized it as his sketchbook.

The sketchbook didn't mean too much to me. I knew Luke was pretty good even though he didn't like to show anybody his drawings. I was the only one who ever saw them. And I only got to see the meaningless ones. I knew he could do much better; what I had seen proved how talented he was, but the drawings containing all his feelings were kept hidden from the world.

"Hey," I said quietly. Although this silence was disturbing, I got a sudden grip of panic when I broke it.

He just barely nodded at me. After a minute or so, Luke tossed the sketchbook down on the bed beside him. He took a deep, calming breath. His eyes were closed and his features were twisted in deep concentration.

I just stood there, awkwardly, watching my brother. Luke was usually so calm. He was the rock to my wildness. That's how we'd always functioned before. I'd never been so uncertain of what my brother was about to do.

Then he looked up and said sharply, "Carly, how are we getting home?"

The question took me off guard. I wasn't sure if it was because he was being so forward or if it was because until that moment I'd thought Luke had known that I had no plans of returning. I stammered something, but I knew my fragments formed no sentence. This seemed to frustrate Luke more.

"Did you even think this through?" he asked harshly "Do you ever think anything through?"

I could only stand there frozen. As far as I knew, Luke had never spoken to anyone that way, least of all me. He rose to his feet. He closed his eyes again and looked down. His hands were clenched into fists at his side. In a somewhat clipped tone he snapped, "This isn't fantasyland, Carly! You ought to know that better than me!"

Finally I could form a sentence. "What... what do you mean?" My voice wavered pathetically, but Luke took no notice. If my own tone of voice bothered him as much as it bothered me, he didn't show it. The worst part was that I had a pretty good idea what he was getting at.

"What did you expect out of this? A place where everyone agrees with everything you say? Or think? Or _do?_"

I flinched, knowing full well that 'everybody' didn't matter. Luke was hinting at himself. He opened his eyes. I was surprised to find that they were burning with pain, not anger though his voice still sounded ready to rip something apart.

"Have you even thought about what us disappearing could be doing to our already emotionally unstable mother? _Have you_? And she's not the only one! 'Brother' might as well translate to 'forever'. I'm not some dog you can just get rid of when things aren't going well!"

"I know that..." I said quietly.

"Do you? Because I'm not so sure!" He stormed past me out the door then. I'm ashamed to say that I was relieved to see him go. Not because I wanted to be rid of my twin, but because he seriously looked ready to start crying at any second, something I couldn't remember ever seeing him do.

I stayed frozen like that for some time afterward. Then I slowly dragged myself over to flop down on the bed. I felt ready to start crying myself. I'd never fought with him before. Our personalities may not have been very similar, but we'd always gotten along just fine.

I sat up and my eyes were drawn to his sketchbook, which had been flipped upside down but had remained open to the page he'd been staring at. It felt awful to invade his privacy after that, but I felt I needed to know what had caused such a disturbance.

The picture took my breath away. It was amazing, but it was more than that. It held meaning. Not just to Luke. To me, too.

It was a redrawn picture of a photo that sat on our dining room table. It was of me, Luke, and Taylor when we were younger. Taylor had been out of the hospital for some time and he actually looked like a normal, healthy ten-year-old in the picture. Luke had redrawn it to perfection, every last detail.

It was enough to move _me _to tears, but it still felt like it couldn't be just this. So I flipped the page and a piece of paper fell out.

I picked it up, carefully setting the sketchbook back down on the bed. It was a chart of a recorded phone conversation. At the top of the paper was a date. With a start I realized that it was the night I'd left. The phone call had come from Taylor's oncologist. And then the tears did fall.

_Oh my god... _Even in my thoughts my voice was broken.

Apparently, not all brothers were for forever.

**Review please!**

**Sorry, if this chapter was a little dark. It was meant to be sad... but sorry if it was dark too.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

_**Revised March 23, 2014.**_


	7. Puzzle Pieces

**So I don't mean to disappoint anyone, but this chapter does focus solely on the OCs.**

**Chapter Six**

I'm not sure how long I lay there, but by the time I got up I was way overdue to go out and look for my brother.

I was surprised to see the sun setting when I reached the last step of the stairs outside our building. I had no idea where I was going, but the second my feet touched the dirt I took off running.

I headed in the direction of the training field, but not too surprisingly, Luke wasn't there. So I kept running. I headed into an area I had yet to explore. The forest surrounding the village. Really, if you didn't count the forest as part of the village, then the training grounds were the very outskirts.

Call me crazy, but I didn't take a second to think this through before plunging into the woods. Yes, I know this was stupid. It was getting dark and I didn't know my way around and... yeah, I'm sure you get the point.

Well, sorry, but in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the best decision maker. That's Luke's area of triumph. Except for today apparently because, as far as I knew, he knew his way around even less than I did and he still hadn't returned.

Very quickly I got lost. It was only when I realized this that I stopped running. Adrenaline had covered up a stitch in my side that I now felt return with a vengeance. Taking a deep breath, I sat down and lay back against a tree trunk. Continuing to walk wouldn't do me any more good than sitting down would, so I chose the easier of the two. What can I say? I'm a lazy teenager who's favorite activity had been watching anime. Besides, I needed time to think this situation through before I got myself even more lost.

Okay, so I was in an unfamiliar forest where all the trees looked exactly the same and there was no path whatsoever that I could follow. Wonderful.

It seemed to be getting darker by the second. Only then did I begin to really worry. At the rate the sky was darkening, I wouldn't even be able to find the direction I'd been running from. But I couldn't just stand there and wait for morning. That was the least productive of all my limited options.

So I continued on in the direction that I was already heading. Yes, this was probably the least likely choice to lead me back home, but I'd come out here with a purpose. I was going to find my brother. And he hadn't run into me yet. Or vice versa. So really I had no choice other than to go on.

Soon it was pitch dark and I was stumbling into things that I'm positive weren't in my path just seconds before. If I later found out that the trees had learned how to move just to spite me I wouldn't have been surprised.

"Ow!" I hissed as I stubbed my toe on yet another rock. When the light did finally return, I would be limping home.

But then, in the distance I saw a little pinprick in the distance. It had a peculiar purple color, but I didn't stop to think what this could mean before I rushed after it.

The trees parted around a lake. There was a tiny beach on my side, and if I hadn't slowed down there's a good chance I would have plunged right into the water.

I stood awkwardly by the final tree and watched my brother. He was sitting on the tiny strip of sand, staring out at the water. The rest of the forest seemed to fade away. There was the scene in front of me and then there was me. Hiding behind the one tree that stood out from the rest. My final obstacle.

I took a deep breath and pushed away from the bark, slowly walking up to my brother. Without a word, I sat down next to him and took a look at what he was staring so intently at. I didn't gasp out loud, but for a second I couldn't catch my breath.

That one tiny light was floating out in the middle of the lake. It sank in what Luke had done. And if the thought had crossed my mind, I would have realized that I would have preferred doing this task alone as well.

Floating in the pond was a memorial to our brother. I wasn't sure how Luke had found the materials, but they probably were too hard to find in a forest this large when you weren't sprinting past all of it.

Moonstone glows in the dark. And since lotus petals are pink that's what was giving off the purple glow. Originally this gesture was made at the end of each year for all the sailors who had been lost at sea. There isn't a word for how amazing all those little shrines looked floating out on the water.

Only upon seeing this sight would one be able to really appreciate all of Gai and Lee's references to the lotus flower. They look just like any other flower petal, (though a bit more elegant than the rest, in my opinion) yet they're able to hold and keep afloat the beautiful shining stone that completes the memorial.

Luke had done just this for Taylor. Maybe this was a very loose response to the old tradition, but times had changed, and I highly doubted any sailor had ever used this pond.

Tearing my eyes away from the sight, I looked over at my brother. He had one arm rested on his knee and his chin settled on his arm. Without realizing it, I had mirrored this position when I'd sat down beside him. There were dried tearstains down his cheeks and he hadn't made a move to acknowledge my presence.

And suddenly, completely disregarding how long I had searched for him, I felt that I didn't deserve his recognition. It was selfish to bring him along. What had I done?

I swallowed and forced myself to hold my gaze. People used to say all the time that Luke looked just like our mother and I looked just like my father. (Of course, they'd stopped this habit when my dad had died.) I remembered not knowing what they'd meant. Didn't we look almost exactly the same?

Only when I got older did I start to understand what they had meant. After a while, you start to see a person based solely on their actions. At one point in time, Luke had strongly resembled our mother, but things had changed. It's ironic that only after they'd stopped looking so alike had I understood.

When Dad died, my mother had been a constant mess. Luke was always so together, even if it was only because he had to be when she wasn't.

I won't say that I wasn't affected by my father's death. We'd been very close. But I was still so young that I wasn't totally against change and learning to adapt. My grief over our father's death was just slightly overshadowed by my need to learn how to take care of myself. And I did learn. And as I did this, Luke slowly got our mother back on her feet.

It wasn't nearly as simple as it sounds. It took nearly two years for her to be able to reassume her position as 'mother'. And that's when things really began to change for us. Because I just didn't seem capable of being 'daughter' again.

Luke was fine. He had relied a lot on me during this time (more than I'd ever been able to realize) and besides, hadn't this been what he was working for? The whole idea of getting Mom back into operating mode was so that we could be the kids again. But I just wasn't as ready to rely on someone who had already let me down once. And besides, (it had seemed so logical in my mind) why did I need to? Had I not proved that I could take care of myself?

So I guess it was my fault when my mother started falling apart again. It wasn't as dramatic as the last time, but the fact that she started going downhill still has to count for something.

I don't want to make it sound like we did anything incredible, because really we didn't. We weren't without help. (What, are you crazy? There's no way two six-year-olds could completely take care of themselves!) Our mom was still functioning. Just not as a person. She could go to work and pay the bills and she always got us to school. (We even got there on time on a good day!) And there was always the random helpful neighbor or old family friend. (Most of whom I'd never before seen in my life.) My mother just wasn't up to taking care of us like she once had.

When my relationship with my mother began to crumble was also when the one with my brother began to get more and more strained. It was like I was the playground bully, come to destroy what he had spent so long building and rebuilding. I wasn't _trying_ to make things so much harder on her, but the way I saw it was simple: I didn't need to rely on her so much anymore, so why should I? I actually found that it was incredibly hard to do so. I was no actress, and I had no idea how to act other than how I felt.

Because of this, Luke and I started becoming more and more distant with each other. We still got along and could coexist peacefully living in the same house. But we were no longer a team. We were still pieces to the same puzzle. Just not the pieces that match up and fit together.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" I stumbled out oh so eloquently.

Luke hadn't taken his eyes off the water, but he had set the ball rolling. "I'm sorry," he repeated. "I shouldn't have blown up at you."

I couldn't disagree more, but nobody had given him too many chances to vent in his lifetime and it was my responsibility to discontinue this new trend. So I didn't contradict him and say it was my fault. (though it so obviously was) I didn't say anything.

"I just..." that look of frustration came back into his eyes "I don't understand, and it makes me feel like I could just hit something! I miss the days when I could read your every move, and now I have no idea where you're coming from."

Once again I responded with silence, figuring he wasn't done. I was right.

"I can understand your fascination with this world and these characters. The characters even interest me a little, but it's you that I can't seem to figure out."

"What do you mean?" This conversation, if possible, hurt more than our last one. Just how far apart had we drifted?

Finally, Luke turned to me. "Carly, why do you want to be here? I mean, I could understand if you wanted to join the academy and try to become a ninja yourself, you know, really fit in with the characters, but you're content with just watching. I don't think I could ever do that. I'd go insane being constantly on the sidelines. I'm sorry; I just don't understand!"

And unfortunately for my brother, I couldn't explain any better than he could understand. All I could do was extend my hand. With a sigh my twin let me pull him to his feet. Hand in hand, we began to walk in the general direction of home.

And it was then that I saw how unfair I'd been for the past six years. Luke had done all the work last time. Now it was my job to take the reins and try to reshape our edges until we were each other's matching piece once more.

**Review please!**

**The Naruto characters and some of their plot (neither of which I own) should be coming back into the story next chapter! :)**

**And now I shall perform my much-neglected job of thanking all my reviewers!**

_**Sasuke's Pal**_

_**Mage666**_

_**maxridelover**_

_**ethereal tears**_

_**xYama-chanx**_

_**snakebite3**_

_**XxDarkSarcasm1010xX**_

_**jaizina**_

_**XxXMiiDNiGHTXxX**_

_**Revised March 23, 2014.**_


	8. Missing

**Ha ha... I can't count. ^^' Well, I accidentally put up two chapters in a row listed as chapter five and the last one as chapter six... but it was really chapter seven... so this is actually chapter eight even though the last one said it was six.**

_**(In regards to the above note... I didn't actually check this when I was editing those chapter... XD So, that problem may be resolved...) **_

**Chapter Eight**

I was relieved to be able to say that Luke seemed to be beginning to adjust to Konoha.

It had been a couple of weeks since our little scene by the pond. Since then, Luke had also gotten a job... at a weapons shop. I had to admit this was very cool, but surprisingly, even to myself, I preferred my own job.

Maybe Luke had a better chance of meeting ninja, but I was getting to know more and more about our new home. After all, I wasn't locked up in some shop all day long.

The Ichiraku's Delivery Service had become very popular. I was beginning to learn that some of the regular, everyday civilians were just as interesting as the ninja. Plus, I loved that I got to be outside all day long, and I don't think I could've ended up with a kinder boss. It was perfect for me.

It also gave me plenty of fuel for the conversations with my brother. Occasionally we would talk about a particular customer that had stuck out during his day, but usually it was stories from my day that kept us entertained.

For example, there's a lady that I deliver to regularly. She has five kids, the oldest one just seven years old. Add in an overhead fan and plenty of small toys and you're in for some childhood memories.

"Hey, Luke. Do you remember when we were little kids and we used to chuck things up at the fan just to see what it would fly out and hit?" Oh, the trouble we got into for that...

"That was all _your_ idea, I'll have you know."

Silence...

"Okay, _mostly _your idea."

They were starting to be less and less, but on Teuchi's slow days I'd made it a habit to go watch Lee train. I'd begun to believe that we really were friends. I could hardly believe that he hadn't been one of my first choices for friends back in my world. Sure he was a little out there, but he was just such a positive person! And I guess I was a little out there as well for taking my obsession with this world so far. Training was really important to him, and if the closest I got to participating was watching, so be it.

Gai seemed pretty enthusiastic that I was so interested, but Lee's team mates never really spoke to me. I guess I couldn't really complain. Neji and Tenten had both piqued my interest at one point, but I hadn't obsessed over either of them for quite some time before I'd gotten here. Though I'd sometimes see one of them watching me, they never approached me for conversation.

Which was why it came as such a surprise when Tenten came over one day to talk. During the few, short breaks Lee's team got, he usually spent them talking to me. We'd talk about what they were doing that day and the progress everyone was making. Lee never spoke badly about his team mates, even Neji, despite their proclaimed rivalry. (Just as I had when this had been just a television show, I got the feeling their rivalry was very one-sided. Neji just didn't acknowledge Lee and his skills enough for it to be any different.) The topic usually didn't stray too far from that. Until the day Tenten joined us.

I'll admit to being shocked to speechlessness when she came over and introduced herself. As I told her my own name I wondered if this was going to be the start of a new trend. I really enjoyed my talks with Lee, but I didn't see how adding Tenten to the conversations could make it worse in some way. Neji, however, was still keeping his distance. But I soon learned that Tenten had come over with an actual reason for joining us.

"Carly, I go into all the weapons shops around here pretty often. Yesterday, I saw a boy behind the counter who looked just like you." She was finished, leaving the floor open for my explanation.

But I couldn't talk for a minute. I was too busy agreeing with the voice in my head that was screaming, _What the hell? Luke met Tenten and he didn't tell me?! _Of course, it didn't occur to me at the time that he probably didn't recognize her as anyone I would know. They were both staring by the time I got my voice back.

"Oh, uh, yeah. That's Luke. He's my twin brother." Simple sentences... breathe, Carly. Wow, I probably could've benefited from anger-management classes.

Tenten nodded, satisfied. "I thought so."

If only to stop her from leaving, I added, "I've seen you practice; you're really good."

She shrugged. She was probably even better than anything I'd ever seen. I doubted practice was time for her to show off.

"It's true," Lee chimed in. "Tenten is amazing."

Now she blushed. Any fangirl watching this would immediately add this to their list of why the two should be together, but I didn't see it that way. (And not only because I was a diehard NejiTen fan.) Lee was just being himself. Tenten deserved praise so she was getting it. And I would bet that she got overlooked pretty often considering both her team mates were geniuses in their own way.

"Thank you," she said before getting up to go sit by Neji. I watched her go. I was going to comment something to Lee, but then I noticed how intently Neji was watching me. With a start, I realized he had activated his Byakugan.

I knew that I was now in a world surrounded by powerful ninja, but for the first time true fear filled me. At this point in the story line Neji wasn't too friendly. He was still filled with a lot of bitterness and hatred. Why was he looking at me like that?

"Carly? What's wrong?"

Lee was watching me closely. I could only imagine what my face looked like. His gaze slowly turned to where I'd been looking. But Neji was better than to be caught. By the time Lee looked over his head had already turned and he appeared disinterested once more. Figured.

I made some hurried excuse about getting back to work and took off.

As soon as I got back to the stand, Teuchi looked at me with concern. He wanted to know if I was okay. Was I sick? Did I need to take the rest of the day off?

I stopped to consider this for a moment. No, I wasn't sick. But did I need the day off? No. What I needed was to talk to Luke, and he wouldn't be out of work for a couple hours.

I told him I was fine and continued with the deliveries. I didn't really remember the rest of the day. What I do remember clearly is waiting for Luke to get home. I figured I must've finished work early. Sometimes when I'm... frazzled, I do things more quickly than usual if only to keep my hands occupied while my mind is going a million miles an hour.

I pounced on him the second Luke walked through the door. (No, not literally.)

Not sure where to start, I decided to begin with the least significant of my thoughts. "Why didn't you tell me you met Tenten?"

He looked confused. "...Who?"

"About our age, two buns in her hair."

"Oh... I-"

"Don't you dare tell me you didn't think it was important!" I stopped. Something was wrong. Luke was too quiet. Distracted even. Normally by this point he'd be playing along and raising his hands in a fake surrender from his insane sister's wrath.

Before I could question him again, he spoke. "I've been thinking that over."

"Thinking what over?"

"Yesterday, when she came in... one of her team mates was with her." He looked a little defeated, and I supposed he was, if he'd planned to keep this information to himself.

"Which one? Was it Lee?"

"No."

"Neji? The quiet one with the white eyes?"

"Oh, he wasn't too quiet yesterday," he muttered.

I raised my eyebrows. There couldn't possibly be another problem concerning Neji, could there? I backed up, letting my brother out of the doorway. We sat down, him in a chair, me flopping down on the couch.

"So, what's going on?"

"If I'd known she was important, I would have told you-"

I waved my hand dismissively. "She's not important. (Sorry, Tenten.) What about Neji?"

"Well, Tenten shows up in the shop a lot. She likes to browse the weapons and sometimes she'll buy something. But this was the first time I saw him with her." He was quiet for another minute. Then, "They were talking about you."

About me?

"W-what about me?" I was almost dreading his answer.

"The boy-Neji? He was saying how you didn't have any... chakra...points." Under any other circumstances, I may have smiled at the way he stumbled over the word.

I tried to wave away the concern that seemed to be building in both of us. Luke may not know what chakra was, but he would be able to tell that it was pretty important.

"No worries," I told him, attempting to take on a light tone. "It probably comes from coming from our world."

"He didn't seem to see anything off about me..." Luke mumbled, not looking at me.

A thought struck me. Had Neji sent Tenten over to investigate because it would be out of character for him? Maybe she'd been looking for something strange. Though I liked to think that Lee was more perceptive than that, had he missed something off about me while we talked? Or was he not telling me something?

Because there wasn't a doubt in my mind that Neji was wrong or lying. This just left me with one more question though.

What did it mean?

**Review please!**

**Sorry for the wait.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

_**Revised March 23, 2014.**_


	9. Goodbyes

**Chapter Nine**

I sighed and tilted my head up to the sky. Why couldn't every day be like this one? The sun was shining and there was a pleasantly refreshing breeze. The only problem? The rest of the world didn't seem nearly as happy as I was.

It had started this morning. It had taken a good twenty minutes to drag Luke out of bed, but this was nothing new and neither was his grumpiness. The only thing slightly off was that his grumpiness hadn't subsided in the least by the time we were ready to leave.

However, I didn't let this bother me. Using the weather as my horoscope, I had decided that today was going to be a good day. The only person I ran into on the way to Ichiraku's was the the Third Hokage. I didn't see how this could be a bad thing. He asked after Luke and wanted to know if we'd settled in all right. It's nice to see someone who genuinely cares about your answers, even if they are just small talk.

Again, there was just one off thing. Of all days, he'd chosen today to pay a visit to the memorial stone.

My ever-cheerful boss was looking a little glum today. When I asked, Teuchi said there were some days that just seemed to drag by, you know? I did know, but not today!

I grabbed the handle of my ramen wagon and set off, keeping as much of my good mood as I could. After another interesting chat with Mrs. Five Kids, I set off for Naruto's house. There was a new topic of interest today.

When I got there, I knocked once then let myself in. This had become routine. I brought a new stock to Naruto's house once a week or so. But today, unlike most others, he was here. So as I was unloading cups and packages I asked him, "Hey, Naruto, have you ever seen the ocean? 'Cause there's this lady down the street who says she never has."

At first I hadn't been able to believe this. In the summer Luke and I would go to the beach almost every week. I'd almost commented on that before I remembered that we weren't supposed to ever have seen it either.

"No, but I'm going to soon!" he exclaimed gleefully.

"Huh?" I turned to look at him and saw that he was packing. "What's going on?"

"My team has been assigned a new mission," he said importantly. "We're going to the Land of Waves!"

"Wow, that sounds… exciting." Of course! The Zabuza Arc! How could I have forgotten? Naruto didn't seem to notice the hesitancy in my reply.

"It's gonna be great! I've never been outside the village before."

"You'll have to tell me all about it when you get back," I said, already edging out the door. I was out of there a second later, walking much slower than I had been before I'd seen Naruto. Strange. I'd paid almost zero attention to the storyline since I'd gotten here.

Maybe it was because the only person I'd really befriended other than Naruto was Lee, and he didn't come into the main storyline until later on.

After a moment, I realized that I must have subconsciously been drifting towards the field where Gai's team trained. I was here a little earlier than when I usually came to watch and talk to Lee. Good. I needed some time to think. Lee and I made eye contact for a brief second before he resumed training. I sat back and tilted my face up to the sun.

**…**

It felt like just a minute had passed when I felt someone staring at me. When I opened my eyes, I was dismayed to find that it was not Lee who'd come over to talk to me but Neji.

He watched me for a moment, his expression a blank mask worthy of a shinobi, as I stared dumbly back. I opened my mouth to say something a few times, but the words never made it out of my mouth.

Neji got a disgusted look on his face. "If you've got something to say, say it!" After another failed attempt at speaking, he snapped at me. "What do you expect to get from hanging around here every day? From what I've seen you're not trying to do anything with your life. So what are you achieving in staring at us? You know, Lee used to train right through his breaks." With a sneer he finished his little rant with, "You remind me of my cousin."

I bristled. Getting to my feet, I shouted, "Well, I'm not your cousin, and I refuse to be your victim!"

"Hey, hey, calm down."

Huh? I hadn't seen Tenten come over, but she was here, putting a restraining hand on Neji's shoulder. It didn't look like she dared to put her other hand on my shoulder. Good. Neji had put me in a rotten mood. The look on his face was infuriating. Why the hell did he look so damn triumphant?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw that Gai and Lee had stopped their conversation and were watching us.

And suddenly I felt awful. Who was I to be making such an obnoxious, embarrassing scene? I realized how intrusive I must seem to Gai. He worked so hard to make sure his students were the best they could be. And Lee. Was I really holding his prized student back?

I didn't look at Neji as I walked away. I couldn't bear to see his expression when he saw I was backing down.

**…**

When I returned the cart to Teuchi he seemed to be in a much better mood. He'd misjudged the day, he told me.

_Tell me about it_, I thought. It was like we'd swapped mindsets.

I almost felt like continuing my rotten streak and rubbing it in that his favorite customer was leaving and wouldn't be returning for a few weeks. But I couldn't do that. Not to Teuchi. He was always so- oh my god! Naruto was leaving!

Suddenly I couldn't bear the idea of not saying goodbye to him before he took off on the first really big adventure of his life. Sure, he wasn't as big a part of my life as I'd once hoped he'd be, but we were still friends.

I said a hurried goodbye to Teuchi and began running towards the exit/entrance to the village.

My thoughts grew more and more anxious as the minutes passed. How long had it been since I'd left Naruto's house? Had they left already? How long had my little spat with Neji taken?

I was almost there when I ran into something hard and fell back, hitting something harder- the ground.

I looked up and saw a familiar shock of silver hair, a mask, and a book held in the hand of someone that I most definitely recognized.

I was disappointed to see that I was still getting that little jolt that blew all my words away whenever I met a character that I knew for the first time. I was delayed for a moment before I leaped to my feet and stuttered, "I-I'm so sorry!"

"Not a problem," he responded nonchalantly. Thank Kami he wasn't looking up from his book; I could feel my face growing red.

Awkwardly, we resumed walking. Awkwardly because we had not been each other's companions before. But we were heading to the same place.

When he noticed that I was not only still there, but walking alongside him, he turned a page and asked, "Are you, by any chance, the new resident?"

I was surprised. "Yes. How did you know?"

Still not looking up he replied, "This is the only path out of the village."

"I know."

"Really? Are you authorized to leave?"

"Oh, I'm not going anywhere. I want to say goodbye to Naruto before he leaves."

"Is that so?" For the first time he looked genuinely interested. His eyes even drifted over the page and came to rest on me.

Oh, right. At this point in the storyline, Naruto didn't really have any friends. (I mean, if you think about it, Kakashi and Iruka didn't really count- they were his teachers. He hadn't found the middle ground between rival and friend with Sasuke yet. He and Sakura didn't really get along, and Hinata had yet to work up the courage to talk to him. That left me who saw him roughly once a week…) I didn't really have time to respond to his words because we had arrived.

"Kakashi-sensei! What took you so- oh, hey, Carly. What're you doing here?"

My blush returned as all eyes focused on me. I averted my eyes from Sasuke and Sakura, fearing I'd lose my voice again.

"I… just realized that I… forgot to say goodbye earlier!" I chirped.

Naruto didn't seem to notice the pauses in my speech. He began to go on and on about how awesome the mission was going to be- how great he was going to be while Sasuke just smirked.

My eyes drifted to Sakura who was watching me. She appeared to be deep in thought. I could just see her miscalculating my awkwardness. I would've bet anything she was hoping that I'd fall in love with Naruto and get him off her back.

_Too bad for you_, I thought. And then the time came when they had to depart.

"Good luck," I murmured to my loud, excitable friend as he walked away.

**…**

I had one last stop to make before I returned home. I'd seen the field where Gai's team trained, but I'd never been to the one where Kakashi's team trained. What I really wanted to see was the memorial stone. When I got there, I found someone already standing in front of it- the Third Hokage. He must've come back.

I slowly approached the stone, and as I watched the Hokage as he ran his eyes over all the names, I felt a sharp pang in my chest. The Zabuza Arc only lasted two weeks or so. And then the Chunin Exams would begin… The old man had been so kind to us. I couldn't believe he was going to die soon. A lump formed in my throat.

"Do you ever think about death?" I blurted out. He turned to look at me with kind eyes.

"Not too often," he answered. "I have too much in this life to spend time thinking of any other."

I couldn't look at him. I gazed sadly at my feet. "One time," I told him, "my mother said that no matter how you die, if it's not of old age, it's too young."

He looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry your brother's grave is elsewhere."

I hadn't been thinking of Taylor, but now my heart hurt for him, too. "He was only seventeen," I murmured pitifully.

"Do you think he was ready for death?"

I paused. I'd gotten many responses to the news of my brother's death, but I'd never gotten this one. Taylor was only seventeen. He'd spent the majority of his life in a hospital or various treatment centers. But had he always been cheerful or calm? Yes. Taylor had been ready for anything. Even death.

I brushed away the forming tears and smiled back at him.

"Yeah. I think he was."

**…**

When I got home, I was glad to see that both Luke and I were in better moods. To top off what was becoming a surprisingly good day, Luke and I decided to go to Ichiraku's for dinner. On the way there I pretty much detailed out my day to Luke. What particularly interested him were all the new people I'd met today.

"I've heard you talk about the teacher before; what about the other two?"

"I've told you a little bit about Sakura. She's the one with the pink hair. She's still pretty useless right now, but she's really smart."

"And the other one?"

"That's Sasuke," I sighed, rolling my eyes.

Luke grinned. "What's that tone for?"

"Ugh… Sasuke is…" I tried to think of a word to describe the young Uchiha.

"Let's just say this- he's the type of guy who every girl and her brother is in love with."

Luke got a look on his face. "That doesn't include us… right?"

I laughed. "No. Of all the characters I've obsessed over, Sasuke was never one of them." For some reason my favorite characters were never the popular ones.

Luke was laughing, too. "Come on, let's go get some dinner."

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. I know Neji was a little OOC, but that will be explained in the next chapter. (Well, one of the next chapters…)**

_**Revised March 23, 2014.**_


	10. The Forest of Death

**Chapter Ten**

There were many things that Luke and I should have learned quickly when we moved here. One of these would be to properly use chopsticks. I had taught myself once around the same time we were learning how to write in cursive. Neither of these skills stuck with me.

Because of this, dinner was going very well. Luke and I hadn't laughed so much within the course of an hour in a long time. Teuchi and Ayame had joined in once most of their other customers had left. (Understandably, it took us much longer to eat.)

We'd learned that they did have silverware here. It was just rare to see anyone who had it. Most of the families in Konoha had grown up learning traditional Japanese ways. We'd managed to add to our story a little. We'd grown up in a modernized household because our dad was always either busy or tired. We found this was quite believable what with the dead spouse, dying child, twin children, and illness we'd created for him. (Most of it was even true! Just not for our dad.)

All was going well when Luke spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Or, to be more specific, someone. He nudged my shoulder. "Hey, isn't that…"

I turned around and nearly choked on my ramen when I saw the back of Neji's head. I managed to swallow and hissed to Luke, "What is he doing here?"

Luke could only shrug. "You know him better than I do." Which wasn't saying much.

But what _did_ I know about Neji? Not much, yet still enough to know that he wasn't the stalking type. I couldn't picture him following around after anyone, especially not some random girl who wasn't even a ninja. In fact…

Something was slowly dawning on me. Why hadn't I seen it before? I was so inconsequential to him that Neji shouldn't have even bothered to provoke me and start an argument. From what I'd seen he rarely gave _Lee_ that much attention. So why had he become so fixated with me?

If I'd taken another bite, I probably would have choked on it. It was one of those moments when everything sort of just comes together. Whenever you get really angry, your chakra levels are supposed to spike. But, like Luke had overheard, I didn't have any chakra to spike. So Neji was watching me!

Maybe he hadn't told Lee, but somehow I doubted that Tenten wasn't in on it. When did she ever contradict Neji? I'd bet the only reason she'd come between us today was because it looked like Neji was one step away from driving me away, never to return. And they couldn't monitor me if I wasn't around.

Maybe this should've creeped me out, but I was oddly satisfied. Luke was staring at me and I could tell I had a strange grin on my face. I resumed eating, and after another minute, Luke followed my lead.

**…**

The novelty of night time being a constant sleepover had worn off pretty quickly, but for the first time, Luke and I stayed up nearly all night talking. I told him my suspicions about what was going on with Neji. Then I explained what was going on in the storyline right about now.

I told him all about the Zabuza Arc. Two things really piqued his interest. One was the chakra training. The other was the whole thing with the Sharingan. (I'd explained the Nine-Tailed Fox thing a while back.)

I'd just finished detailing out the first part of the Chunin Exams when I realized that it was nearly two in the morning, and Luke wasn't much of a morning person to start with.

As I was drifting off, I had another revelation. Any time I'd explained anything about this world, Luke had given me his undivided attention. The only part that he wasn't really fond of was the fact that we were here. It was almost too bad. If we'd been back in our own world, he probably would have really enjoyed my anime-marathon nights…

**…**

It has officially been a week since Naruto left. I'm pretty sure there's still about a week before he returns, but I can't help but hope he comes back sooner.

I can understand how Team 7 (well, minus Kakashi) didn't know that the Chunin Exams were coming, but if they'd been here there's absolutely no way they could've missed it. It seems that the entire village is prone to stopping its daily routine to get ready for the Chunin Exams. Some days Ichiraku's is so dead Teuchi tells me not to bother even coming into work. Other days it's so crazy I stay hours later than what my schedule says. The weapons shop that Luke works at is pretty much in the same situation.

Surprisingly, even to me, the only days that this really bothers me are the days that Luke and I both stay home from work.

While we didn't always understand each other, Luke and I never really had any problems with getting along. Now we seem to get into little spats over everything. I swear, Luke is getting more OCD by the day. Yesterday, we got into this huge argument over whether or not the big spoons and the little spoons could be placed in the same drawer compartment!

This is only the second day in a row that we've both been home, but I can already tell that if we're left to each other's company much longer, we'll end up ripping each other's throats out like a pair of wild dogs. I haven't seen Lee much lately. But it's not because of what Neji said. (Honest!) He's deep in training for the Chunin Exams.

Ignoring the little voice in the back of my head that's telling me this is a BS excuse, I decided that something would have to be done. I let Luke sleep in and then waited as he slowly ate his breakfast. I had to propose my idea at exactly the right time. Which was really any time before his grogginess wore off and he could make intelligent decisions again.

"Hey, Luke."

I got a grunt in response. He looked ready to put his head down on the table and fall back asleep. Perfect.

"We should do something today. Like… explore the forest. It's such a big part of the Leaf Village. And neither of us has really seen it since our first day, right?"

"Yeah…"

I got a near-silent hum in response. That was close enough to a yes, right?

I made sure we were out the door and on our way before he realized what he'd agreed to. Luke only really woke up when we were surrounded by the hustle and bustle of one of the market streets. It was a little like going to the mall around Christmastime.

As we continued walking, the crowds got smaller. As we went even further, the people got more and more scarce. We were heading out of town. Soon we were following a path that wound through trees. It was only then that Luke asked where we were going. As I tried to figure out the best answer to that, the Forest of Death came into view. Eureka! I'd found it after all. With a big grin, I gestured to it. Luke was appropriately impressed.

"It's huge!" he whispered. He seemed to break out of his amazement when I began to walk closer. Suspiciously, he asked, "What are you doing?"

I didn't answer him. He took a few steps forward. He was cautious, like he expected someone to pop out of nowhere and arrest us for trespassing any second. It was strange. Luke had never been this hesitant about breaking the rules back home.

"If it's blocked off," he continued slowly, as if I was an idiot, "that probably means no one's allowed inside."

I ignored this. The trees loomed high above my head. I reached a hand out and touched the gate. I could feel my face light up. No wonder Luke was starting to look more and more worried.

"Come on!" I said. I knew Luke would follow me when I started to run around the gate. He couldn't very well leave me alone.

We ran until we could hardly breath. I have to say we made quite some progress considering how huge a space the forest took up. Panting, we continued walking. I could tell Luke was beginning to ease up about my grand, thoughtless adventure. The thrill of running has the magic ability to erase all doubt.

The sun was high overhead when we reached the other side. This was the interesting part because, while all the teams had been spread out, they'd all been on one side, for the most part.

"Whoa, I didn't know there was a lake here…" Technically, it was more of a pond, but still. I guess there was no need for the teams to go this far away from the center where the tower was. (Well, unless they got spectacularly lost…) It had seemed easy enough for them to find water without reaching the pond.

I looked at Luke. I pointed to a tree not too far from the edge of the pond inside the gate. "First one to that tree wins?"

He looked a little skeptical, but I could tell he really wanted to take me up on that challenge. "What if it's an electric fence?"

"It isn't. I touched it before." No need to tell him that there really wasn't any need to worry about intruders in the Forest of Death. Not until now anyway…

Without another word, we ran up and began scaling the fence. The top was really high up, but we leaped off without any second thoughts. Have you ever jumped off a bridge? There was one by our old house. Every summer we would ride our bikes to the bridge and then jump off. It was terrifying the first time, thrilling all the others. This was a bit like that. And just like that, we landed with a nice resounding splash.

It was deeper than I'd realized. We probably could've swam under the gate from our side of the pond. Not that I had any time to contemplate this. We broke surface a second later and then the mad dash was on. In all honesty, Luke got there just a second before I did, but I wasn't about to let him know that. I don't think he noticed when we started walking deeper into the forest. His mind was wrapped too far around our heated debate about who won my little challenge.

Our conversation ended when we couldn't see the sun any longer. Wow, the trees were so thick. Staying in this place for five days could be enough to make you completely lose your sense of time. I was pretty sure it had only been a little later than noon when we'd begun climbing the fence, but suddenly I couldn't be certain anymore.

Our surroundings actually looked a lot like the place where Sakura decides not to suck at being a ninja anymore and Sasuke goes all psycho from the curse mark and all that… But I knew they hadn't been here. There were probably tons of places all throughout this forest that looked just like that one.

"Carly… where are we?" Luke was not a happy camper.

"Uh… the Forest of Death…" I answered meekly.

I saw the name sink in. "The Forest of Death? Why the hell are we here?"

"I should be asking that question."

We both jumped and whirled around. Behind us stood a ninja. He had his arms crossed and… hey, I knew him!

"Koda?"

He sighed. "I knew you two would cause trouble," he muttered. Then he turned on us. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he spat. "Anbu members have been watching you from the beginning. What if they hadn't known you were just kids? What if the exams had started? There would've been kids in here who would've been willing to kill you if they thought you were the enemy!"

Let me tell you, it's weird being lectured by someone who isn't too much older than you are. He'd begun leading us to one of the exits. "What are your names?" Crap. Now he was probably going to report us.

"Luke," Luke mumbled.

"Carly," I answered in a similar fashion.

Koda faltered. Whatever he was going to say next seemed to stick in his throat. As we continued walking, I could tell he was trying to compose himself, but it wasn't working. What was wrong? All we'd said were our names.

Koda was silent the rest of the trip. Once I caught him staring intently at me, but I averted my eyes. I was in no position to ask what he was doing.

To my surprise (and intensified shame) the Third Hokage was waiting for us when we exited the gate. But he didn't seem upset. In fact he was smiling. "Ah… I see you've found our wandering explorers."

Koda didn't say anything, so my brother and I took that time to apologize profusely. The old man just chuckled.

"We're getting ready for the Chunin Exams, as I'm sure you've noticed. We're monitoring the forest to make sure it will be ready. I'll have to ask you to take your exploring elsewhere. But for now, it looks like there's been no harm done, right? Koda?"

Still not looking up Koda mumbled, "Yeah. No harm done."

**Review please!**

**Koda will become important later on. I just need to get the plot going…**

**I don't own Naruto! Just my Ocs…**

_**Revised March 23, 2014**_


	11. New Arrivals

**Chapter Eleven**

After our little Forest of Death fiasco, Luke and I stuck close to home. We went to work and directly back for a week straight. Finally, I'd had enough of sitting inside, looking at our walls. Besides, we needed groceries.

Luke had taken on another shift at the weapons shop, so it was just me anyway. I headed out to the market place.

Unfortunately, even though my week had been unadventurous, I'd acquired another stalker. I'd never wished to be one of those fan fiction mary-sue girls. (They're tacky.) But now I felt a slight longing for the easy life. Alas, neither Neji nor Koda had taken up stalking because they were madly in love with me. (And no, that's not the part I was longing for!)

All week long, I'd found Koda in random places on my way to work, usually talking to someone. When I walked by, he'd never halt in his conversation, but his eyes would follow me as I walked by. I wondered, what excuse had he given to get off of guard duty so he could track me? Had he even needed an excuse? Was the Hokage more suspicious than I thought? Well, if he was, finding my brother and I sneaking around the Forest of Death couldn't have helped.

In the beginning, Neji had been more discreet, but I could tell he was starting to get frustrated. This didn't surprise me. He could stare all he wanted. I had no secrets to give away, considering I didn't know the meaning of the chakra points' absence myself.

I dropped the groceries off at home, (they could be put away later…) but the thought of staying in the apartment and spending any more time staring at the wall or looking out of window sickened me. I felt the urge to repaint the walls in some outrageous pattern that would be harder to memorize than our boring, monotonous eggshell white. And looking out the window made me feel as if the apartment were a cage. I would confine myself no longer!

Thus far, I'd had considerably good experiences with wandering around aimlessly. So that was what I did. Okay, I'll admit. Maybe it wasn't so aimless. I purposely avoided the path that would take me near Gai's team's training grounds. I hadn't seen Lee in quite some time, and while I missed him, I could accept that it was a very busy time for him. That's what I told myself anyway. The fact that he had a creeper team mate did help in trying to avoid him.

As I turned a corner, nearing the market place again, I saw the three people I least expected to see. They were huddled together in as much of a circle as three people can make. My eyebrows shot up. "Konohamaru?"

The one obviously in charge stood up straighter and whirled around, acting like he'd just been caught doing something wrong and was about to be scolded.

Then he saw it was just some random village girl. (I had a strong suspicion he was expecting to be caught by Ebisu for something.) "Who the heck are you? And how do you know my name?"

I decided to ignore his first question. I feigned surprise. "Doesn't everybody know who you are?" Then I figured he meant who had I talked to that called him by name. Just about everybody referred to him as the Honorable Grandson, so I added, "I think the Hokage might have mentioned you once."

He seemed satisfied but still slightly suspicious. "What are you guys doing?" I asked, hoping to redirect the conversation. I was also buying time, trying to think. I'd lost track of where we were in the story; did these three do anything important around this time?

"We're supposed to play ninja with Naruto today!" Moegi piped up with a smile, readjusting her goggles.

"Yeah, only we can't find him," Udon added, wiping his nose.

Konahamaru had a look on his face that suggested he would've stopped them if he knew what they were going to say. I hardly noticed it though. One thing stuck in my head.

"Naruto's back?" It was a happy thought, and I'm sure it showed up in my expression. And, unfortunately for me, it was noticeable.

Konohamaru snickered, "Who are you, his girlfriend?" Well, considering the state of hero-worship they held him in, he sure didn't have much respect for the person he thought was dating said 'hero'.

"I am not!" I burst out indignantly.

The kid snickered again. "Is that so?" I could tell he didn't believe me for a second.

"It is!" I insisted. "Look, do you guys want to find Naruto or not?"

Moegi clasped her hands in front of her. "We do! Do you know where he is?"

"I have a pretty good idea," I admitted. I remembered this episode now. Other than the part where the Sand siblings make their entrance, it had been pretty slow in my mind.

It only really sank in when I was leading them to the stage of the scene. Naruto was back, and Gaara was about to show up! I'd gone through my Gaara phase. (What Naruto fan girl didn't?) Luckily for both of us (but mostly me) it was over now. I'd gone through many character phases. For a time there had even been a Kankuro phase. That had been a strange time…

When we arrived at the little side street with the tall fence and the tree, Naruto was there. Sakura was standing by too, but Sasuke was nowhere to be seen.

"Boss!"

"Naruto!"

He turned. "Huh? What do you three want? Oh, hey, Carly."

Now Konohamaru was the indignant one. Apparently he wasn't too fond of the fact that Naruto was giving me more attention than the three of them combined.

"Boss!" he said again. "Where have you been? You promised you'd play ninja with us today!" Moegi and Udon nodded in unison.

"Playing ninja?" Sakura had entered the conversation. Her tone was dripping with mockery.

It was strange watching this scene unfold in real life. It was pretty disturbing watching Sakura completely lose it and get ready to take out a little kid. I'd almost forgotten why I'd wanted to come in the first place… until Konohamaru ran straight into Kankuro.

I was undoubtedly the calmest one there. I found it impossible to take Kankuro seriously after having seen him back down so pathetically in Gaara's presence. It was almost like watching it on TV. Which is why I nearly jumped five feet in the air when Moegi grabbed ahold of my pantleg.

It made her look so much younger, and Udon was cowering behind her. It made me feel bad that I was taking this so lightly. For them it was probably the most terrifying thing that had ever happened. Things suddenly felt a little surreal, knowing exactly how everything was going to play out.

I've never been the comforting type. I've never even been the babysitting type for that matter. Thankfully for me, this scene moved a lot faster in real life. Before I could think of anything reassuring to say to the two that weren't being strangled, Sasuke was on the scene and everything was under control.

I watched as he sat up in the tree, cool as a cucumber, (seriously, who came up with that saying?) tossing the other rock up in the air while Sakura went wild. I remembered how Gaara seemed to appear out of nowhere. Just as a little self-challenge, I wanted to see the exact moment when he appeared. I trained my eyes on the branch where he would hang.

I averted my eyes for just a moment when Sasuke did his little rock-crushing stunt. What, was he trying to show of for his squealing fan girl? All of a sudden I felt a twinge in my gut. It almost felt like when one of your limbs falls asleep. It only lasted a second. Whoa, what was-

"Kankuro, back off."

Damn it!

"You're an embarrassment to our village."

I'd missed it!

And… wait for it… there it was. Kankuro was all but cowering behind his sister who looked like she would so sacrifice Kankuro for her own life. Ah, sibling love.

Now everyone was watching Gaara. Other than Kankuro's shiver, nobody moved a muscle when Gaara threatened to kill him. I'd seen this play out once, (though not nearly as close) and I knew that the best course of action was no action at all.

Gaara apologized for Kankuro's disturbance, and then there was some more mutual silence as Sasuke and Gaara sized each other up. The little disorienting twinge came again, and when I looked up, Gaara had materialized beside his siblings. It was so strange. Just what was it exactly?

The three began to walk away.

Sakura took a few steps towards the three. "Hold on." They didn't answer. "Hey!" she shouted, obviously not pleased at being ignored.

When they finally acknowledged her, she gave a lengthy speech, basically demanding to know why they were here_. Interesting, _I thought. I mean, _I_ knew that Gaara wasn't going to hurt anyone, but for someone who didn't know, that wasn't really any way to talk to somebody who'd just threatened to kill his own team mate/brother.

Finally they turned back to look at us.

"Really?" said Temari. "Have you guys all been living under a rock or what?"

"They're here for the Chunin Exams," I explained quietly.

I cringed away from Temari's harsh, calculating gaze as Konohamaru of all people explained to Naruto what the Chunin Exams were.

Sasuke leaped down from his branch, blocking my view of the other girl, and more importantly, blocking her view of me.

He demanded to know their names. I also could have supplied this information, but I decided not to be the creepy one today. I'd opened my mouth enough for one new encounter.

However, I mouthed them silently to myself. Apparently, I wasn't as out of view of them as they were of me. When I caught another glimpse of them, Kankuro had narrowed his eyes. I quickly looked down again. Sasuke and Gaara made their introductions.

"And who are you?" Temari asked coolly. I froze. She wasn't looking at me. Crap! She was! In fact, I'd gotten Kankuro's attention as well.

"You're too old to be an academy student," she continued. "But I don't see a headband." She was challenging me.

I'll admit to being too scared of confrontation with her to rising to that challenge. "I'm not a ninja," I said quietly, without looking up.

"Then she's not worth bothering with," Gaara said dismissively. Never thought I'd be so grateful to him. Especially not before he had his change of heart.

"I bet you're dying to know my name, right?" Naruto cut in.

"I couldn't care less," Gaara responded. They were gone just a second later.

I stood off by myself as Naruto tried to heal his bruised ego. Unfortunately, Konohamaru was no help in this department.

I'd actually rewatched this encounter many times, but it was much different in real life. It took a few minutes before we all went out separate ways.

I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going. Had all of that really only taken five minutes at most? Before I realized it, I'd walked almost right into Lee. That woke me up considerably.

"Oh! Hi, Lee."

He smiled. "Carly. I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah… I figured I should give your team some more time to train… you've gotta be getting ready for the Chunin Exam."

"Yes. Gai-sensei is signing us all up today. But, about you showing up at practices… I hope you didn't take what Neji said too personally. He can be a little rough around the edges. He was born naturally talented. He hasn't gained the respect hard work and hard times will give you." Lee sounded sympathetic for his friend.

My first thought was, _Neji isn't rough around the edges, try rough all over_. But then I realized that, just like Gaara, that was only just for now.

"Maybe you should talk to him sometime," I advised Lee. "I doubt it's as simple as it sounds."

Lee seemed surprised that I'd taken such in interest in the troubles of his team mate. Who could blame him? I was surprised I'd said it.

"I suppose you're right," Lee conceded. "I usually pride myself on being open-minded…" he continued thoughtfully. "But maybe I haven't given it as much thought as I should." He smiled again. "Thank you. I'll talk to Neji."

We continued walking, heading for nothing in particular. I found myself staring at Lee as we walked. I had gone through my Gaara phase. I'd gone through my Kakashi phase. I'd even had a _Neji_ phase. But I'd never given too much thought to Lee.

Now I had to wonder. Should I have had a spot in my heart for Lee? I'd gotten to know him, and he was definitely worth it.

I felt a little pang in my chest as I realized what was coming up. Lee would come into the main story soon. When he professes his love to _Sakura. _I cringed at the thought. Sakura wasn't even worth being his acquaintance yet, and when he sees her, he'll think he's in love with her. He could do better than that! He deserved better than that!

But who exactly was I to judge? I couldn't claim to be better than Sakura. Sure, she wasn't that great right now, but she was going somewhere, and making up for how she was right now with her brainpower.

I needed to stop the way I was thinking. I despised the way I was thinking. I didn't hold with jealousy, and was I really becoming jealous of Sakura? I'd never been one who hated her, but she'd never stood out as someone to be jealous of.

I broke out of my thought-filled haze when Lee said my name. With relief, I realized he hadn't asked me a question. He was very animatedly detailing out something he'd learned recently. His 'secret weapon' for the Chunin Exams. It only took a few sentences for me to realize he was describing the Hidden Lotus technique.

I'll admit it. My first thoughts were more dreary ones, along the lines of he's-telling-me-this-because-I'm-of-no-importance-don't-even-know-anyone-of-enough-importance-to-tell kind of thoughts. Then I got an image stuck in my mind. The image of Lee after being beaten half to death isn't so bad unless you know him. It made me catch my breath. The look on my face must've been awful because Lee stopped his excited chatter very abruptly and asked, "Carly, what's wrong?"

He was concerned. He was so much more kind and caring than anyone ever gave him credit for. Knowing what would become of him in just a week… I couldn't look at him.

I gave an agitated, hurried excuse about needing to get home, and then I rushed off without looking back.

Luke was already home when I got there. He looked up when I came crashing through the door.

"Hey. Where've you- what's wrong?"

Apparently, I hadn't managed to completely erase my stricken look from my face.

I began to detail out my entire long, long day. I'm sure I went into unnecessary detail about what would happen to Lee, but at the end Luke still seemed sort of… excited. Only one thing had stuck for him.

"For the first time, you have a crush on a real-life person. He's _real_!" I got the feeling Luke didn't care who it was. He didn't even care that this boy was only real because I'd somehow managed to make my favorite anime real.

I was not absorbing his excitement, but he did bring up something that I hadn't completely let sink in.

Was I in love with Lee? It was a disorienting question. But I welcomed it. It washed away the gruesome image of one of my best friends being on the verge of death.

"I don't think you realize it yet," Luke continued. "but I'll make sure you see it soon. There's no way I'm going to let you lose out to that pink-haired Barbie!"

**Review please!**

**Koda will become important later on, but it won't really be explained until Tsunade shows up.**

**Luke's scheming… ****J**

**I don't own Naruto… I own my own little changes to the plot and maybe a handful of characters.**

_**Revised March 23, 2014.**_


	12. Memories

**Chapter Twelve**

It might seem a little cheesy, and perhaps I've been hanging out with Lee and Gai too much, but freedom has the power to heal the soul. I can't imagine going back to the days when I hid out in my house. Okay, so it's only been four days since I ran into the meeting with the Sand sibs. Still… I can see the difference.

I haven't seen Koda or Neji following me since either.

As a matter of fact, the next time I saw Neji was a time that_ I_ ran into _him_. I got up early so I could walk around for a few hours before work, breathing in the air. It was almost July, and I could taste the summer.

I began walking along some of the paths that started at the training grounds. I could hear the birds chirping overhead and was surprised that I loved it. It wasn't like I spent absolutely no time outside. I loved the mornings that I got up early for soccer games, but I was never much of the outdoorsy type. I spent more time watching anime or reading fanfictions on the computer than I did outside.

I stopped at once when I saw Neji. He was leaning back against a tree, his face tilted up to the sky. His eyes were closed, but I could tell he was awake and enjoying the morning as much as I was.

He opened his eyes when he felt me watching him, but his expression didn't change. It was the most neutral look I'd ever seen him wear. As a matter of fact, it was too neutral for someone enjoying such a nice day.

I'm not sure what I was thinking, but I unfroze, walked over, and sat down beside him. He didn't move or object. He didn't even blink.

"What's going on?" I asked like we were friends and spoke to each other all the time.

He was quiet for a moment like he wasn't sure that I'd really just asked him a question. Finally he responded. "I'm waiting for Gai sensei. He asked me to meet him here this morning."

"So where is he?" Not the most tactful way of asking my question, but it got the point across. I knew Gai and Neji had some big conversation about not bringing family grudges into the Chunin Exams with him. I couldn't imagine a better place to have this conversation, but I'd bet Neji didn't know what was coming. Neji let out a breath slowly. I recognized the gesture as one of rising frustration. I'd made it plenty of times myself, but it surprised me to see it coming from someone who was usually so reserved. "I thought Gai and Lee were both pretty strict about being on time."

Neji looked at me like, what do you _think_ happened? "Yes," he said. "Except when it comes to Lee's training sessions."

I nodded. I knew Neji wasn't a bad person. I watched the episodes where he fights Naruto over and over again. Right now, he was bitter. And the fact that he had a sensei who played favorites couldn't be helping any. He sighed and rolled his eyes toward the sky. "Do you know what it's like," he asked suddenly "to be the one who's always waiting on someone else?"

"Yeah." It was a horrible feeling, but I did know. "Back in our old home, I was always the last kid to get picked up from soccer practice."

Neji surprised me by actually taking in interest in my story. "You weren't allowed to walk yourself home?"

"The fields were on the outskirts of town. Once you turned fifteen you were old enough to walk yourself home. I'll be thirteen in October. I was always the kid who sat around with the coaches after practice… My brother was really sick. In fact, the only times we were even allowed to participate in any sports was when he wasn't so bad that we were all camped out by his bedside. Not that him being only mildly ill wasn't enough to justify sitting by his bed all day." I felt thoughtful.

"Yes, but it sounds like he was well enough to be by himself for twenty minutes. It couldn't have taken you much longer to get home. Maybe your father should have set his priorities more carefully."

My head snapped up to look at him. "I had a great dad!" I didn't even have to think about what my defense might be. Where had this come from? And then I remembered. I had been talking about my mom. But as far as everyone here was concerned, the story was that our mother had been dead since we was little. And our dad had been the one to raise us.

Neji's reaction wasn't filled with emotion, but it was immediate. "I'm sorry." And I could tell he meant it. "That was out of line."

"It's okay," I told him, a little sheepishly. "I shouldn't have snapped at you."

"I can see you're both enjoying this beautiful and youth-filled morning!" Neji and I both rose immediately at the sound of Gai's voice. He was standing just a few yards away, beaming at us.

"I'll, uh, let you two get on with your training," I stammered. Neji nodded, all business once more.

As I walked past Gai he nodded to me, but I saw he was also watching me with that deep, calculating look that wasn't seen too often on him. It was more or less the same look Kakashi had given me once he'd taken the time to look up from his perverted novel. Weird.

I didn't spend too much time on it, though. It had occurred to me that maybe Neji and I really did have something in common. Had Neji been in my place before? Having to defend his dad from some jerk who'd thought he'd known better? It wasn't an impossibility…

I'd made my way back into the heart of the market place. I'd found it to be a very welcoming place. Unfortunately, it was welcoming to everyone. I nearly stopped dead when I noticed Koda standing in the middle of the street. He was watching me. Waiting for me?

Silently, I groaned. What were the chances? I didn't see either of them for a few days, and then I ran into both of them almost at once. I considered turning and walking the other way but stopped myself. This was ridiculous. What was so threatening about Koda? We were in the middle of the market place. Even if he did mean me harm, he wasn't going to attempt anything in a crowd. ...Right?

I made what was probably a pretty pitiful attempt to square my shoulders and began to walk towards him. I tried to continue right on past him, but Koda turned and began to walk alongside me. I tried to ignore him, but he was walking awfully close. After my shoulder grazed his arm for the fourth time, I turned on him. "Is there something I can help you with?" I asked coldly.

"Not until you help yourself," he said in and even colder, unfeeling voice.

I backed away from him, and he looked a little disgusted by my action. "What have they done to you?" he murmured, looking me up and down.

I could tell it was a rhetorical question, but I hissed back anyway, "What the hell are you talking about?"

Koda was looking at me straight on now, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. I barely registered the fact that he was making hand signs until it was too late.

**…**

_The little girl laughs. She's been chasing the boy, who's just a year or two older, for a long time. She hasn't caught him yet. _

_His face is also lit up with a smile that makes his brown eyes shine and stand out in the light coming from the dawn. Almost as much as his shocking blue hair._

_A man sits on a large rock not too far away. The little girl turns back to him to take in his fond, loving smile. He has the same dark blond hair as she, the same hazel eyes and freckles. Their resemblance is commented on all the time. _

_His eyes drift skyward as he thinks of the coming day. For now the kids will enjoy themselves. But soon, they will get back to work._

_This work is secret. Mother always told her that secrets shouldn't be kept in her house. Not from her anyway. But Daddy told her the truth. She's different. Special. Not like Luke, or Taylor, or Mother._

_Daddy told her there was no shame in being normal. But there was no shame in being special either._

_Still, the fact stands. She's special. They aren't. Therefore, this one time, just this once, this secret is necessary._

**…**

I gasped as the real world came rushing back to me. As soon as I was breathing normally again, the anger returned as well. My mind reeling, I put both hands on Koda's chest and pushed him as hard as I could.

"Stay away from me!" I demanded. It attracted a few stares, but Koda didn't seem to notice.

"You think I implanted visions in your mind," he said. It wasn't a question, and infuriating as it was, he was right. "Go back through it again," he advised. "I'm sure you'll recognize it as your memory."

"I know my own memories!" I claimed, sounding vicious to my own ears.

"Really." It didn't sound like he believed me. "How did your father die, Carly?"

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Why wasn't this coming to me? My father had died when I was six. This had been a fact since… well, since I was six. I had to know the cause of his death… but where that knowledge should have been was a frightening blank spot.

"Just stay away from me," I said again and hurried away. I didn't look back.

Teuchi looked worried when I showed up, but I assured him I was okay. I hurried through work, not enjoying the day nearly as much as I'd been enjoying it this morning.

When I got home, I was looking forward to the change in atmosphere. (Figures, I revel in the freedom of no longer being cooped up inside, and then inside becomes my safe haven.) So wouldn't it just figure that the first thing Luke does is hold out a scrap of paper and say, "That guard who brought us to the Hokage left this for you."

I just stared at the paper for a minute. Just as Luke was about to ask if something was wrong, I snatched the little piece of paper out of his hand and flopped down on the bed. After staring at it for another moment, I unfolded it and stared at the address Koda had written.

I recognized it as one of the places in town occupied nearly only by ninja. Luke and I lived in a place that was occupied almost solely by civilians. Naruto's apartment was very strategically placed in the middle so that it was on the outskirts of each.

"So, I've started my plan," Luke announced, though I had to admit I wasn't nearly as curious as I would have been had today been a normal day.

He handed me a portrait. My mother liked to go on and on about how Luke had tasteful, conventional talents. (She didn't approve of sports or see the joy in soccer like I did.) He was naturally gifted in things like art and music. Luke had taught himself to play the guitar, piano, and the flute, and he had a gift for painting/drawing.

It was a painting of Sakura. He must've gotten her to sit for him while he painted her. I had no idea where he could have possibly run into her when he knew her even less than I did, but I couldn't exactly say I was surprised. It wasn't something I usually thought about, but my friends had commented time and time again that Luke was pretty handsome. He'd always had a way with girls... not that he ever noticed.

The painting was strange… to say the least. For the first time I really realized how real she looked. How real everybody looked.

"Not sure if I got my point across," Luke said as I took it in, "but the idea is… you're dealing with real people now, Carly. You can't think about people in relation to pairings anymore."

In other words, he was trying to make me understand that this supposed crush on Lee was real. And I was starting to get it. But I couldn't comprehend all this right now.

I almost asked Luke about our dad. But I stopped myself. For all I knew, I was right and Koda had just implanted visions into my head to mess with me for whatever reason.

I let my head drop back against the pillow and fell asleep. But sleep didn't bring peacefulness.

**…**

_The little girl's face is the picture of joy. Koda has learned a new way to evade her._

_He'll let her get close and then seem to disappear. But really he's just transported himself a little farther away. Every time this happens she feels a little twinge in her gut. This is her proof of being 'special'._

_The girl trips in her haste to catch the boy… but she never stops laughing. _

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto! **

**Before anyone comments on Luke's talents, (Jeez, now he's starting to look like the Mary Sue-ish one...) I would just like to say that it **_**is **_**possible. My little sister DID teach herself to play the piano, guitar, AND the flute.**

**Just sayin'**

_**Revised March 24, 2014. (Happy 18th birthday to the real Luke!)**_


	13. Unsettling Stares

**Chapter Thirteen**

When I looked at the clock, I couldn't suppress a groan. According to my traitorous time-telling machine, it was only three in the morning.

It had been three days since my most recent encounter with Koda, and I hadn't been sleeping very well since. Every night since the first one had been the same. I saw that same dream or vision or whatever it was every night. Maybe Koda's words were getting to me, maybe I'd finally cracked, but they were starting to get the feel of a memory to them.

Every night was the same. The images were always the same. They only ever varied slightly. My father was always there, along with my younger self and the young boy… The young boy who was unmistakably Koda's younger self.

My father was always smiling down on us peacefully while we ran and played and laughed. The laughter was terrible… We both sounded like we were having a wonderful time, but the sound had begun to grate on my nerves.

I glanced across the room at Luke, who was still asleep. He looked so peaceful… and I aimed to keep it that way. He was worrying enough, thinking that I still didn't see these people as real. No. I would deal with this on my own.

I glared out the window at the dark sky. Whatever Koda was doing, it was cruel, playing with someone else's mind. I couldn't stand to be the butt of his prank. No. I would get him back for this. I vowed to that as I lay back down.

**…**

Unexpectedly, I did fall back to sleep, and for the first time in a while, Luke was up and moving around before I was. He grinned when I sat up and blinked blearily.

"Strange of you to wake up after nine," he teased. (Upon further inspection I found that it was nearly nine-thirty.)

"Strange of you to be up before noon," I responded.

He shrugged. "Well, it's hard to sleep when the landlord's banging on our door. Not that you had any problem, though…"

I began to wake up a little more. "The landlord was here? Why?" I tried to think back, but he'd never really bothered us before. "We already paid this month's rent."

"He had a letter to deliver." Luke handed me the piece of paper along with a plate of eggs and toast. "And he said this one was on our doorstep." He dug two more pieces of paper out of his pocket and handed those over as well. I thanked him absentmindedly and began to eat while I opened the first letter.

The writing was very neat, but it didn't have any obvious feminine touches to it. My eyes widened as I read it. The Hokage wanted to meet with us after lunch today!

"What's this all about?" I asked.

Luke shrugged. "The landlord didn't even know what the letter was about. He said some ninja delivered it this morning. I wonder what the Hokage wanted to talk about…"

I began to unfold the other two pieces of paper. One was a map with a route drawn out in red ink. It started at my house and ended at an unknown, circled destination. This made no sense until I opened the other paper. In very messy handwriting was a short note. (And people say _my _handwriting looks like chicken scratch!)

Follow this map to the circled town.

It may answer a few of your questions if you know where to look.

Just trust me.

-Koda

Well, I can truthfully say that my initial thought was that there was no way in hell that I was going to go along with anything Koda had planned. But then I started thinking it over… From the unbroken seal, I could tell that Luke hadn't opened this one. It had been addressed solely to me. Luke was watching me out of the corner of his eye, but he wasn't asking any questions, and I wasn't offering up any information. Silently, I decided that I would check it out. Just this once. Just for curiosity's sake. But I wouldn't tell Luke.

Our day went on as normally as possible. Neither of us had work today, and we mostly stayed at home. I didn't really think Koda would approach me before I got a chance to do as he asked, but I didn't venture outside anyway.

"Your breakfast was surprisingly good this morning," I commented as lunchtime drew nearer.

"Yeah, well, breakfast is easy," he responded. "But here, I'll be generous. You can do lunch."

"Alright, but I'm not exactly a master chef," I warned. I began to look through our cupboards. "Okay… I can make peanut butter and jelly… and if you're feeling really adventurous I can toast the bread."

Luke laughed and our day continued. I didn't realize until then that before coming to this world it had been nearly forever since Luke and I had just hung out.

"What are you making now?" Luke asked as we began to clean up lunch.

"Tea," I replied.

He just stared for a moment. Then, "_Tea?_"

"The Hokage will be arriving soon," I said defensively. "I want to give him a proper welcome."

Though his entrance made me realize for the first time just how shabby this apartment must look to outsiders, the Hokage very respectfully took no notice of it. He seated himself on one side of the table, and Luke and I sat down on the other. I handed him his cup of tea.

"Thank you, but my visit will be very brief." He took a sip. "I've come to invite the two of you to the finals of the Chunin Exams as my guests. Now, it won't be for some time yet, but I think it should get you acquainted very well with the ninja world."

"Wow, thank you!" I already knew how that whole experience was going to play out, and I wasn't exactly sure it was something I was eager to experience, but it was still a very kind gesture.

"Yeah, thanks." Luke wasn't really paying attention. I looked over and winced inwardly at the obnoxious amount of sugar he was heaping into his own cup of tea. The Hokage finished his cup and was then soon off, wishing us well as he went.

"You were right," Luke said nonchalantly, taking a sip, finally satisfied with the taste. "He is pretty cool."

"Yeah…" Well, I guess there was really no point in putting it off any longer. I grabbed the letter and the map that Koda had sent me. As I walked out Luke asked, "Where are you going?"

I pretended not to hear him, shutting the door behind me to block out his queries. I hurried down the stairs and began walking along the red line. As terrible as my map-reading abilities are, I finally managed to find the town marked on Koda's map. I looked up at the sign and walked in. Well, what now? There were no directions after this.

Slowly, I walked onward. This town didn't look terribly different from any of the others I'd seen so far in Konoha. The street was filled with people going about their daily lives. It was only after the first ten minutes, when I'd reached a spot literally filled with people that I began to notice the staring.

At first it was just casual glances. Then there were some double takes. Then there were some right out stares.

I began to feel self-conscious. I began to walk quickly with my head down as if I actually had a destination in mind.

What was going on? God, this was like a bad fanfiction! All I was doing was _walking_! What were they all staring for?

I began to remember something. Kakashi had given me a second look when we'd first met… as had Gai. Like they saw something I didn't. Or knew something I didn't…

I walked until I reached the other side of the town.

I'm not sure what it was that made me look up when I got out, but I found Koda sitting on a rooftop, his legs dangling over the edge, watching me. He gave me a quick nod as if he'd proved his point, and then got up and began to jump from one roof to the next in the opposite direction.

All of my days had been so strange lately… In some desperate ploy to hold onto my sanity, I was going to go home and just do nothing out of the ordinary for the rest of the day. This was what I got for following the directions of some whacko. If Koda had hoped to give me closure with whatever he'd had planned today, it didn't work. That night my dreams were much of the same… until they weren't.

They started out as they usually did. Koda, my father, and I were all in the clearing that I don't remember ever going to in real life. Then, Koda frowned. Fear flooded a pair of eyes; it took me a moment to recognize that the view had changed, and I was looking into my own horrified scream. A sense of panic overcame me.

There was a terrible, piercing scream. My scream.

And then it all went black.

I sat up quickly, sweating, my oxygen coming in horrible, gasping breaths. The panic had continued on into the real world.

I had to wait quite a few minutes to calm down. I envied Luke, who slept on through all of this. When I was calm once more, I made a vow.

I was going to find out what was going on. And, more importantly, I was going to discover just what in the world it had to do with Koda.

**Review please!**

**I'm sorry it took so long to update! **

**I know it's all pretty confusing right now, but I'm infamous for rushing my stories and I'm trying very hard not to do that with this one. There are a few more things that have to happen first.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

**Please! Leave me your thoughts!**

_**Revised March 24, 2014.**_


	14. Fear

**Wow, in the past week or so, it's sort of been like I've been catching up with all the stories that I haven't updated in forever. After this I need to get back to some of my new projects. I really need to stop starting those…**

**Chapter Fourteen**

It was sort of funny… in a way that was not funny at all. Now that I _wanted_ to find Koda, he was nowhere to be found. I found myself walking aimlessly through the village only to realize an hour or so in how ridiculous I was acting and turned around to head home.

_You're acting like an idiot_, I kept telling myself. _What happens when you do confront him? You don't even know what you're going to say_.

Unfortunately, as usual, the logical half of my brain didn't seem to have much control.

It was on one of these very walks that I ran into the most unexpected person. I caught a flash of the four familiar blond pigtails bobbing past and I did a double-take. Unfortunately, she noticed my reaction. Temari turned, stopped, and looked me up and down once while I just stood there, my face heating up and my shoulders hunched up to my ears like an idiot.

_Way to go, moron_, I thought to myself. _Why were you so surprised to see her? She is living here for the time being!_ For a moment we just stood there watching each other. But then, the dreaded confrontation that I knew she wouldn't be able to resist arrived. Temari smirked, and I felt my stomach drop.

"Have you really turned into such a coward, or have you actually forgotten me?" Surprisingly, her words weren't nearly as mean as I'd expected them to be; she seemed more amused than anything else. But they stopped me in my tracks. What the hell was Temari talking about? Was this just another one of her intimidation tactics? For some reason, I didn't think so.

As I stared at her blankly, I thought back to watching the later part of the Chunin Exams, when Gaara went completely psycho. I remembered how scared she'd looked. As intimidating and brutal as she'd been taught to be, Temari was still just a person who got scared just like the rest of us. It was strange thinking like that about someone so strong. I felt like I was beginning to see things the way Luke did. Figuring that I'd better get away from those thoughts before I started breaking out into a Phil Collins song, I finally got an answer out.

"Um… no. I don't remember you." She must have seen something shift in my eyes, because her demeanor became a little more subdued.

"Huh… You _have_ changed." She looked me over again as if she was trying to make sure she wasn't mistaken. It reminded me so strongly of Koda's actions that I actually shivered a little, which she ignored. "You _are _Carly Sohma, aren't you?" she asked at last.

"Yes…"

"Your father used to take you on visits to Sunagakure all the time when you were a little kid. You seriously don't remember any of it? You used to somehow find Kankuro every time you were there. You were utterly amazed by the idea of being able to build a sandcastle without going to the beach."

Hearing this description of my younger days only confused me further. Because it _did_ sound a lot like me, but I couldn't remember any of it. I was a tad bit simple-minded and easily impressed when I was younger… (Okay, so maybe I haven't changed all that much.) And there she went dragging my dad into this, too. If I didn't know any better, I'd have suspected she and Koda had gotten together to plot up ways to torment me.

So lost was I in my confusion, that I almost missed Temari walking away. Apparently she'd tired of my cluelessness. Or she had other things on her mind. I wondered briefly if she'd been sent out to track down an MIA Gaara. Briefly because I was spotted once more by someone who knew me.

"You're making all sorts of new friends, aren't you?"

I whirled around to see Lee standing behind me. For once his team mates were nowhere to be found. His teasing voice had thrown me off. It was so far from what I was used to hearing from him that I hadn't been able to pin a name and a face to it for a moment.

"Lee!" he smiled at my surprise, and I immediately felt guilty. "It's been a while…" I said awkwardly.

"You've been avoiding me."

Ah, there was the straight-to-the-point Lee that I knew. He didn't sound mad, though. I blushed all the same and brought my foot back to drag it in embarrassed little circles on the cobblestones.

"Yeah, I have…" There was no point in denying it, really. "I guess… What Neji said really got to me after all. I didn't want to take away from your training time when you have that really important test coming up…"

He smiled more kindly at me and it made me feel even more guilty. I didn't want Lee thinking I was some sort of saint or anything. Put the way I had, my words actually did sound a lot more selfless than they actually were. I almost wanted to come clean and tell him I was distancing myself from him on purpose… that I wasn't sure I was going to be able to handle seeing him in so much pain later on… but I backed down.

"She approached me, actually… I guess she thought I was someone she knew."

"Oh… Does she know you from somewhere?"

"No, of course not!" I said a little too defensively. "I'd never left my old village before I came here!" I wondered, was I being so defensive because I couldn't be absolutely positive myself? There must have been a strange look on my own face because Lee was giving me one. I sighed and looked down. "Lee?" I said quietly. "If I told you something, would you promise not to back away like I'm crazy or something?"

Now he looked concerned and I felt even worse. "Of course I wouldn't!" he exclaimed, and I had no trouble believing him. "What's wrong?"

"I… I think I'm losing my memory. I… I can't remember how my… my mom died anymore, and Temari isn't the first person who's come up to me claiming they knew me as a little kid. Do you think I'm going insane?"

Lee looked puzzled. We begin walking down the street as he tried to figure things out. "That _is_ strange… Are you sure you weren't just too young to remember these things?"

I almost laughed from the not-funny-ness of it all. "Lee, these are childhood memories. Even if they aren't your friends anymore, can't you remember who your friends were when you were small? And isn't forgetting how one of your parents died kind of a big thing?"

Lee's extremely thick eyebrows furrowed and he put a hand to his chin in contemplation. "Yes…" he said, sounding stumped. "That is quite a predicament. I'll have to ask Gai sensei about this… Surely, he'll know what to do!"

I didn't have nearly as much faith in his sensei as he did, but that feeling could have equally come from not wanting my possible memory loss spread around the town. Gai could be a little… loud.

"Lee…" I said again in an attempt to distract him. "We're friends, right?"

He looked up in surprise, his round eyes even wider than usual. "If asked, I would certainly say so!"

His response made me smile; there was no doubt in my mind that he would own up to being my friend. "Cool. So… could I ask you something else?"

"Anything! What would you like to know?" he replied eagerly.

"What are you afraid of?" The words burst out of my mouth before I could stop them. I know I sounded rude and nosy, but Lee's expression didn't darken in the slightest. Instead, he just looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well," he said at last. "I suppose my greatest fear would be that I'd disappoint those who are counting on me."

I nodded. This made sense, and it especially fit with his character. (_Stop thinking about him like that! _I shouted silently to myself. _He isn't just some anime character anymore!)_ And who was I to underestimate the power of expectation?

"That's sort of funny," I said lightly in a way that was surprisingly unoffensive if you can believe that. "Because I think _my_ biggest fear is being disappointed by other people…"

I hoped that he wouldn't question this because, what with Lee not knowing my real story, I couldn't really explain this to him. As more and more people started mentioning my father, I was starting to get the feeling that I didn't really know him. How could I when I couldn't even remember him? Back home, I'd spent practically my whole life since he'd died being told how amazing my dad had been. Of course, I'd agreed. I mean, he was _my dad_, and I'd always remembered him fondly. To be honest, it was frightening now that I couldn't remember him at all. I was afraid that one day I was going to come across something that showed me that he wasn't so great after all.

I had meant to speak to Luke about this when he got off work. Unfortunately, that was not the part of my daily tale that interested him.

"Of course you don't know her."

I looked down and mumbled something in response, eager to get on with what I'd really wanted to talk about, but he wasn't budging.

"Carly," he said, looking at me almost a little incredulously. "You can't possibly know her. You were living back home your entire life. There is no possible way she can recognize you from anywhere," he repeated as if he was worried that I hadn't heard him the first time.

And perhaps I hadn't really. Because to be honest, with all the crazy stuff that had been happening to me lately, I wasn't so sure.

**Review please!**

**Yes. It has happened. I actually got around to updating this.**

**For anyone who's actually still reading this, (and don't worry, I haven't kept my hopes up) can anyone guess the Phil Collins song that I was referring to?**

**I still own nothing!**

_**Revised March 24, 2014.**_


	15. Registration

**Okay, so I know it's been forever since I've updated, and I'm sooo far behind on acknowledging my reveiwers, but thank you, **XxDarkSarcasm1010xX, ColdCurl, Midnighter67, **and **Silimaira **for reviewing the last one. It really helped to know that there are people still reading this.**

**I've literally had the beginning of this started for months… Sorry it took so long to finally get it up.**

**Chapter Fifteen**

It was weird to think that the Chunin Exams were officially starting today. Recently, the village had seemed to settle into their excitement over this upcoming event, but now there was a new rush in the citizens' mood.

"I don't get it," said Luke, looking around as we walked through the village. "The part they actually get to see is still more than a month away, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but it's more than that," I replied, caught up in the excitement myself. "Their village doesn't host it _every_ year, and it's not just entertainment. It's a big deal. A lot of people probably have siblings or cousins entering. It's a matter of pride."

"What a wonderfully youthful way of explaining it!" We turned to see Gai wading through the crowd toward us. It was strange how my respect for him had grown since I'd arrived here. Maybe it took becoming friends with Lee.

"Good morning, Sensei," we greeted politely.

"And what a splendid morning it is!" he exclaimed, speaking as loudly as ever even though he was now right next to us. In fact, I'm sure pride had a lot to do with it, because Gai seemed to have a bit of an extra glow today.

"Are Lee, Neji, and Tenten entering?" Luke asked, just to be polite. And I knew he was only being polite because I'd already given him the run-down on all the entrants this year. But it was the right question.

I could've sworn I saw fireworks exploding in Gai's eyes. "Yes! And it shall be a momentous occasion for all! But my students especially are sure to shine!"

This outburst attracted so much attention from the passerby that Luke and I were both starting to back away slowly. But to some extent, he was right. This arc surely would be big for Team Gai.

"Well, it was good to see you again," I said with an awkward, timid laugh. "But we have places to be, so…"

"Ah! Yes, carry on with your day! I am expected elsewhere as well!" And with that, we parted ways.

"He certainly is an interesting one," Luke commented mildly as I pulled him through the crowd. And I didn't stop, for I _had_ thought of somewhere to be.

"Where are we going?" my brother asked as we emerged from the marketplace.

"There's something I want to check out," I told him, pushing forward. _You are a glutton for punishment, _I scolded myself mentally. _You know how this is going to end._

But I continued on, and, now familiar with the landscape, it wasn't long before we arrived in front of the Academy. Like usual, there was a crowd of people hovering outside. Today, however, they had all already graduated, long ago for some of them. A few gave us odd looks as my twin and I wound our way through the crowd, but they soon returned to their own little huddles. Many of them looked anxious, and they clearly had bigger things to worry about than the reason behind two citizens 'invading' ninja territory.

"Carly," my twin hissed as I started to walk inside. "What are you doing?"

"There's something I want to see," I whispered back, though there was really no reason to be so quiet. Not that I told myself anyway, but I did feel a little out of place. I wasn't going to show it, though.

He looked around, a little nervous as he always seemed to be when I was doing something impulsively stupid. "We shouldn't be here," he murmured, almost to himself. But he followed me inside anyway, never one to let me get into trouble by myself, even if it was all my fault.

The inside of the Academy was almost as crowded as the outside. Even though I'd never been inside before, I had a vague idea of where I was going. And if their classrooms were numbered anything like the ones at _my _old school, it shouldn't be too hard to navigate.

We climbed the first set of stairs, Luke's worry fading as his curiosity took over. I have to say, it was a bit of a boost to my own confidence as well. As we reached the second floor, we spotted a smaller crowd of genin around one of the rooms. Bingo.

As we inched closer, I could see Tenten and Lee already on the ground. So they were right on cue when Team 7 arrived a few minutes later from the other direction, having come from the staircase at the opposite end of the floor.

We were too far away to hear the beginning of their conversation, but as we made our way through the crowd, I noticed the genjutsu being reversed on the sign for the door, and before I knew it, one of the disguised upper ninja and Sasuke were both in motion, aiming a kick at each other.

They weren't kidding when they emphasized Lee's speed in the show. I didn't even see him move before he was between the two of them, preventing the scene from getting any worse. After a moment, he released the two of them, and Sasuke and the other ninja backed away. I watched Tenten get to her feet, and the two remaining members of Team Gai approached their team mate.

"Hey, what happened to the plan?" Neji demanded, not seeming to care that there were so many others in hearing distance. "I thought you were the one who said to keep a low profile and don't let anyone see our skill level."

"I know, but-"

"Never mind," said Tenten with a sigh. "It's over; forget it."

I had to smile; this was definitely the Lee I'd come to grow so fond of: honest to a fault, hardworking… the kind of person who can't stand unfairness of any kind.

He stopped, stood up a little straighter, and my gut clenched. This was what I'd been dreading. He walked a little closer and said to Team 7, "My name is Rock Lee." He surveyed each of them carefully before saying, "You three are the rookies from Kakashi Hatake's team, correct?"

Wait, what? I stood with suspended breath before Sasuke's eyes hardened. "And what if we are?" he replied in a hard, somewhat combative voice.

"Hey you," Neji called out to him before another conflict could break loose. "Over here. What's your name?"

"It's common courtesy to give your own name before asking someone else's," the young Uchiha answered coolly. Neji and Sasuke stared each other down for a moment before Sakura interrupted.

"Hey, Naruto, Sasuke, let's go." Her tone was unusually bright, and she grabbed each one by the hand, practically pulling them away. I'm sure I'm not the first fan to notice that Sasuke didn't pull away immediately…

As soon as they were gone, Neji and Tenten seemed ready to leave as well, but Lee had spotted me in the crowd. And considering I was practically standing there, gaping at him, it probably wasn't too hard.

"Carly," he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh," I said a little too cheerily in response, snapping my mouth shut. "We just wanted to see the beginning of the Chunin Exams up close…" I was smiling a little too widely, and my hands were clasped behind my back as they usually were when I was lying. Out of the corner of my eye, I was glaringly aware of Neji watching me closely, the smirk already forming on his face.

"We?" Lee asked, blinking in a way that made him look almost ridiculously innocent. I looked around to find that Luke had disappeared. I didn't even give myself the time to wonder where he'd gone before I turned back to Lee.

"Uh… Never mind. There seems to be a lot of competition this year." The excuse I rushed to wasn't very tactful, as I had no way of knowing what the other years could have been like, but Lee didn't seem to pick up on this, as I'm sure Neji did. (Block him out, block him out…) His eyes lit up with that familiar determination.

"Yes, it is sure to be a wonderful challenge." I guess it shouldn't have come as such a surprise that he sounded so much like Gai, but it struck me then. "I'm particularly interested in that one," he continued, a little distracted as he turned to stare in the direction that Naruto's team had just gone.

"Yeah," I muttered quietly, looking down. "The pink-haired girl… her name is Sakura Haruno, right?"

He turned his attention back to me. "I believe so."

"She's awfully pretty," I muttered sullenly, still addressing the floor. _Shut up!_ I screamed at myself in my head. _Something's obviously changed; do you _want _him to notice?_

I could swear I heard a giggle, which was probably from Tenten, and a scoff, which was definitely from Neji, but Lee just looked at me blankly, oblivious to his team mates' reactions.

"I suppose so," he said slowly, seeming to take an awful lot of time to consider my statement. "But so are you. And besides, there are more important things than beauty." Someone behind us cleared their throat, and Lee turned with a smile. "Well, I should be off! Have a good day, Carly."

The crowd slowly dispersed, and I made my way back down the stairs. My mind was so jumbled that I didn't even notice that Luke had reappeared and was walking by my side until he cleared his throat. I started, but he pretended not to notice. But I wasn't about to let it go so quickly.

"Where have you been?" I demanded.

"Bathroom," he lied smoothly. And I knew it was a lie, but I didn't push further. For at that moment, I'd spotted Koda, standing across the room, scowling at us. Or, more accurately, scowling at _me_.

"Come on," said my brother, effectively redirecting my attention. "Let's go home."

And when I looked again, Koda was gone.

**…**

The Third Hokage sighed. He hated having to call any of the jonin teachers together to distract them from the Exams, but he supposed it couldn't be helped. There were certain things that could only be overlooked for so long.

"Well?" he asked. "Any news regarding our… guests?" He honestly wasn't sure what to call them, but for the time being 'guests' would do.

"They're definitely Zion's children," answered Kakashi. Yes, the Hokage had determined that for himself.

"In my opinion, I don't think they're a threat," said Gai, oddly serious. "I do believe I see them the most often, and I've never seen anything that might make me think otherwise. However, there is something off about them, and my students seem to have noticed."

"Have they?" This came from Kakashi, and though it was mild enough, it got his point acrosss.

"Well, Lee may not have picked up on anything unusual," Gai mended, "but Neji and Tenten have both raised their concerns."

The Hokage intertwined his fingers and closed his eyes, deep in thought. After a good minute or so he opened them and directed his attention to the two standing in front of him.

"For now, just keep up the watch on them," he ordered. "I'm not sure what exactly their purpose for being here is, but I want someone's eyes on them at all times until I find out."

**Review please! **

**Okay, so I'm not sure when I'll get the next chapter up, but I plan on revising the previous 14 chapters as needed. Not to worry though! This simply means that I'll be touching up the grammar and adding/fixing a few things. It will most likely take less time to do than an actual update would. In fact, the revised form of chapter one is already up.**

**I don't own Naruto!**

_**Revised March 24, 2014.**_


	16. Consequences

**I ended up splitting the original plans for this chapter in two. It was just getting to be too much for the focus of one chapter, and I feel like this one is pretty long as it is. On the bright side, this means that I already know where the next one is going.**

**On another note, I know the format for Carly's dreams changes a little in this chapter. (It's usually all in italics.) My reasoning for this is that she's more... there this time instead of just watching. Also, I know that's not quite how lucid dreaming works... Yeah, it was just the most plausible excuse for the plot to play out like it did.**

**(Yeah, I know I'm past the point of effective excuses for why it's been so long since I've updated some of my stories, but I did leave a little note near the top of my profile if anyone's interested.) **

**Chapter Sixteen**

"So what do we do now?"

I was sitting at the table, leaning the chair back on its hind legs. My tone was listless; I'm sure my expression was at least a little depressed. But Luke looked over from whatever he was sketching with a little smile. He seemed far too amused by my suffering for my liking.

"Continue along as normally as possible."

I suppressed a groan. I had already known the answer, but it didn't make things any easier, hearing it out loud.

This time a chuckle did escape from my brother. "What, would you rather be back in the forest _with _them?"

"God, no!" I exclaimed immediately, appalled at the thought. "I'd get myself killed before we were a mile in! It's just… hard. Knowing what they're going through right now."

"Knowing their actions have real-life consequences now," Luke added sympathetically.

"Whenever I thought about coming to this world somehow, I pictured it being the coolest thing ever," I admitted. "But now it's…"  
"Scary," he finished.

"Yeah. And dangerous. And I know it's their duty as shin obi and everything, but… Some of them _die_, Luke. And some of them have already lived worse lives than even we could imagine. Now that I actually _know_ them, it's… sad."

It was a grounding realization. Luke had certainly gotten his point across, but I wasn't sure the effect was what he'd been hoping for.

Apparently, my dreary attitude was catching. Our conversation seemed to have sobered him a little, too.

I exhaled loudly, my gaze returning to our ceiling. If my calculations were right, it was the morning of their last day in the forest. Which meant that while I'd been moping around our apartment, Gaara's team had already finished the exam, Sasuke had already been marked, and Lee had already come to Sakura's rescue. I shuddered at the thought, and the most disturbing thing was, I wasn't sure which part bothered me the most.

My brother didn't even look up when I very abruptly got to my feet. I had worked up a thick wall of resolve. I couldn't confine myself here any longer. But when I opened my mouth, Luke spoke for me.

"You're going out." He looked very amused by my surprise. "You know, your reactions follow a very strict routine. You get into some sort of trouble, you wallow in hopeless despair for a few days, get fed up with doing nothing, and rush out, headfirst and determined to change your ways, only to attract more trouble… rinse and repeat."

Ah, and here was the downside to having a twin (or any sibling or friend, I guess) who knew you better than you knew yourself. Because Luke was exactly right. And as much as my first instinct was to try to prove him wrong, I doubted I would. I was very set in my ways.

Despite the fact that all the candidates were deep in a treacherous forest, out of sight, the marketplace was still buzzing. A few foreigners had already arrived and would be enjoying the full extent of Konoha's hospitality right up until the finals.

It was a little strange to think I had zero chance of running into any of them, but it was also a little encouraging. There was little to no chance of distraction.

Today would be it. I wasn't sure I could handle the suspense any longer. I still hadn't said anything to Luke, but the dreams were getting worse. I needed to find Koda. I needed to know what was going on.

But where to find him? Based on his behavior from the past few weeks, it was probably safe to assume that Koda had been taken off of guard duty, at least for the time being. This had its ups and downs. He would be a lot more approachable if he wasn't stationed a couple hundred feet above me. On the other hand… the Leaf Village was a big place. And he could be anywhere.

I'm not sure when, exactly, I started gravitating toward the Hokage's tower. I think I really woke up when I spotted the guards outside. I stopped, standing dumbly in front of them for a minute. This was yet another dilemma I hadn't anticipated. I knew the Hokage was very busy, but he was also very kind. He'd probably be willing to point me in the right direction. Now I just had to get to him… This was going to be a lot harder without an escort.

I made my way up to the two guard ninja. They were watching me curiously; I imagined they didn't have a very interesting job.

"Um, hi…" And embarrassed, awkward smile had taken over my features. They waited for me to continue. "Um, if it's not too much trouble… Might I be able to see the Hokage, please?"

It sounded flimsy and pathetic even to me. The two exchanged skeptical looks. Finally, the one on the right said, "Lord Hokage is very busy right now, Miss. He doesn't have the spare time to be meeting with civilians. Perhaps you could speak with him after the Chunin Exams."

They were very kind, considering how stupid I knew I must look. There was a sudden ache in my chest, knowing the Hokage wouldn't _have_ a time after the exams. The closer it got, the more I wanted to warn someone, but I forced the urge away.

_There's no possible way that would work out well, _I reminded myself. _How could you _possibly _know that? You'd either end up in a jail cell or dead!_

_Isn't that a little selfish? _My conscience liked to make an appearance at the worst times. _I mean, it's life or death here._

"Was there something else you needed?" I jumped. Now both guards were looking at me strangely.

"Uh, no. Thank you. There was someone else I was looking for anyway, so…"

I turned to go, trying to brainstorm other places Koda might be. But another voice interrupted me before I could get very far.

"Carly?" What are you doing here?"

I pivoted to face the entrance again, not quite believing my luck. Good fortune and I aren't that well acquainted.

Koda stood in the doorway, a thick stack of papers tucked under one arm. He was staring at me quizzically, one eyebrow quirked. There was none of the impatient, arrogant superiority that I'd become accustomed to with him, but there may have been a reason for this. Even from a distance, Koda looked tired.

The guards were glancing back and forth between the two of us, looking uncomfortable and outranked. One spoke up uncertainly, "You know this girl?"

"Yes." He didn't offer up anything else, barely giving the guards a glance. Ah, _there_ was the rough, scrutinizing looking I'd come to associate with him. "If anyone comes looking for me, tell them I'll be back shortly."

The guards hurriedly assured him that they would and Koda strode past them, walking past me also without another word. He must have known I would follow him. And if not… Well, I was along for the ride anyway.

I was grateful when he led me down a peaceful, secluded path. Our only company was the fleet of birds overhead, but he still didn't say a word.

"I was looking for you, actually," I spoke up, hoping to at least put a crack in the wall of tension between us.

"Were you?" His words were dull. "That's a new one."

"I want answers," I pushed, determined not to let this go. "I want to know what's been happening to me lately."

He sighed and sat down on a bench. I quickly plopped myself down beside him, hoping this was a good sign. "What's with the sudden curiosity? I'm not the bad guy anymore?"

I wasn't sure how to respond. He didn't sound particularly gentle or even playful. Just tired and annoyed. "I just want answers. And you seem to have them, so…"  
He shook his head. "I'm already deeper into this than I'd like to be. And I've got other things that need my attention, especially right now."

Maybe it was just me, but it sounded like he was trying to convince himself. Well, if demanding the information wasn't going to get me anywhere, perhaps flattery would. "What are you working on?"

Immediately, I realized this was a stupid question. Whatever that stack of papers contained was probably top secret and classified, not to be shared with lowly civilians like myself. So I was surprised when he did answer.

"Information on the participants in the Chunin Exam. Everyone who's still in the game has their own little file of data. It'll be compacted into pamphlets for spectators once we reach the final stage."

If Koda had been looking for a way to divert my attention, he'd found it. I leaned a little closer.

"Really? So… you know how everyone's doing right now?"

He gave me a look but didn't shut me out. "I'm guessing you're worried about that Rock Lee kid, right? He and his team just passed the checkpoint this morning. They're fine."

Excellent. That made one less distraction. For now. "And Naruto's group?"

He eyed me carefully. "Interesting choice of friends… They're still in the middle of the current exam." He rose, ready to return to work. "And Carly? In regards to your other questions… You already have all the answers. You just need to look for them."

**…**

When I returned home, I was clearly in better spirits than Luke had been anticipating.

"Hi!" I said brightly as I walked in.

"Hey…" He looked up from whatever he'd been writing. A list, it looked like. "So… how are things?"

"Things are fabulous." And at the moment, the horizon did look considerably brighter. I'd had an idea on the way home that I was eager to try out. "I'm going to bed early."

"What? It's four in the afternoon."

I didn't answer. I'd already lay down and was trying to clear my mind. I heard my brother sigh and go out, closing the door behind him. Perfect. The quieter this apartment was, the better. I focused solely on my breathing. Inhale… Exhale. It took a few minutes, but I slowly drifted out of consciousness.

**…**

Sports weren't my only short-lived hobbies. I'd spent my spare time that wasn't devoted to anime researching everything from sign language to balance disorders. Luckily, about a year ago, I had fixated on lucid dreaming.

If ever I needed to be simultaneously awake and asleep, it was now. Some time ago, when I wasn't open to listening, Koda had claimed that everything I was seeing in my more recent dreams was actually a string of memories. If this was true, then I just needed to be able to control the situation. Force my dream-self to remain in the scenario until something useful popped up.

The best thing about lucid dreaming was that all it really required was desire and a little concentration. Think about having a lucid dream while you wait to fall asleep. Sometimes it works. I'd had a few a year ago when I'd been really focused on this. But eventually that focus had floated away to be replaced with another fixation.

However, as soon as the dream started, I knew I'd been successful. I worked to contain my excitement. If I wasn't careful, I could accidentally wake myself up and have to start the process over again, and who knew if I could be this lucky twice?

I recognized the scene. We were back in the clearing that I couldn't remember ever going to in real life. And there was younger me, younger Koda, and living Dad. It still tugged painfully at my heart a little every time I saw him, even in a dream, but I had to push that away for now. I had a job to do.

Slowly, my focus sharpened and more and more started to come through to me, like a radio signal being fine-tuned. Voices. Laughter. Then just one voice. My own.

"_My turn! I wanna do it, too!"_

Koda had just performed his little disappearing/reappearing trick. When my dad answered, his tone was indulgent but firm.

"_Not today. Right now you need to focus. Feel the energy in the air. In Koda. Grasp it. Contain it." _

Another, stronger pang resonated through me at the sound of his voice. I had to push that away, too, though. I couldn't let it consume me now, when I was finally getting somewhere.

I watched as my younger self closed her eyes (my eyes?) obediently, trying to feel this 'energy' Dad was talking about.

In truth, the whole scene was bizarre and not at all familiar. I would have thought it was all an elaborate game if it wasn't for how seriously everyone seemed to be taking it. And then it happened.

It was nothing grand. Completely liable to be overlooked, in fact, if you weren't watching as closely as I was.

Koda tried his disappearing act again only to stumble back a step as if he'd run into a physical wall. I watched as my eyes few open, knowing it had worked. My younger self looked up at Dad, who smiled down proudly. An accomplishment had been made that day. I just wish I knew what, exactly, it was.

**…**

When I woke, I was surprised that light was still shining through our window. Had I not been out that long?

"About time."

I looked up to see that Luke was back, sitting at the kitchen table again. He was eating something, watching me closely. When I blinked uncomprehendingly, he added, "It's almost noon."

I started at that. It felt as if I'd fallen asleep just seconds ago, minutes at most. I'd have to try it again tonight, but I also couldn't sleep all my days away.

Luke nodded to the stove. "I made lunch."

I rose and stretched, making my way across the room. "Since when do you cook?"

He shrugged. "I guess living here is teaching me a few things."

There was something off about his voice. He sounded a little too casual, but I didn't have time to analyze this before the food caught my eye. It took a moment for the word to come back to me. "You made… pizza?"

He nodded slowly, watching my reaction. It was a crude creation. A small, baked circle of dough with tomato sauce and cheese piled on top, but it struck a chord with me all the same. A lump rose in my throat.

I felt guilty for being able to ignore so easily that Luke was really still trying to get his footing in this world. It was a lot harder for him than it was for me. With everything that had been happening lately, I didn't have time to be homesick.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly seemed a lot more tense. I'd been quiet for at least a second too long.

"Thanks," I forced out at last, knowing my words fell flat. "It's great."

There was another moment of silence before Luke stood. "Well, I've got work today, so…"

I tried not to let his indifferent tone sting as he walked out the door.

As far as homemade pizzas went, Luke's wasn't bad, but I found it hard to enjoy. I knew it was selfish of me to have wanted Luke here, but that was hardly under my control! …Right? I didn't know how _I'd_ gotten to this world.  
Alternately, I also knew that these were just excuses in my attempt to avoid guilt. I knew I couldn't put it aside for too long, but old habits were hard to break.

I finished eating and changed out of yesterday's clothes, ready to head out and find Koda. I was cooperating now, making progress even! Maybe he'd feel a little more generous with his knowledge.

It was a lot easier today, almost like we'd planned it. I didn't have to say a word to the guards, Koda met me at the door. Yesterday's stack of papers was nowhere in sight. He'd arrived with the intention of seeing me.

He nodded at the guards, nodded at me, and I followed him back to the spot under the trees where we'd spoken the day before. But today there was none of the silence. He was speaking the second I sat down.

"I shouldn't be telling you this, but I feel some obligation to you." His chuckle held a hint of something dark in it. "Maybe I'm getting sentimental. You know, for old times' sake. But…"

"You can help me?" I cut in, excited.

"I'm not talking about _that_. Your friends… The ones you were asking about yesterday? I thought you might want an update."

"Oh. Y-yeah. Of course!" That's right. Today was the day the preliminaries for the third exam would start. Actually, they were probably already half over.

"All your friends made it out of the second exam. They're holding one-on-one… duels, I guess you could call them, right now. I get updated on the outcome whenever one of them is finished."

"Oh… And… Naruto? Lee?" I had to ask. I already knew the answers, of course, but there was something different about hearing it in real life.

"Both fine. Neither have fought yet. But the girl on Lee's team didn't fare so well in her match, and both of Naruto's team mates have been hospitalized as well." He waited for the information to sink in.

I checked off Tenten and Sasuke in my head. They'd be fine. The worst was still yet to come. But wait… "_Both_ of them?" I clarified.

Koda nodded. "They ran into some trouble in the forest. Sakura Haruno barely made it out of the second exam, but her team passing depended on it. She bowed out once it turned to individual battles."

I was having trouble comprehending his words. They didn't make sense. Every member of Team Seven had a rough time in the Forest of Death, but for the most part, they all made it out with energy to spare… Could Koda be lying to me? It didn't seem like he was…

"I have to get back. Things are going to get a lot busier around here; I probably won't have time to speak with you again until the exams are over. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help with your… other problem."

Koda walked away, but I didn't move. Something had clicked as he was speaking. I knew what had changed since I'd watched the anime. And the knowledge left me with a heavy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Lee. Lee was not the same person he'd been in the canon storyline, and it was because of me. I'd never been a fan of the SakuraxLee pairing, but I'd also never stopped to consider how Lee minus his crush on Sakura would change the story. But the only reason Lee had even known Sakura was in need of rescuing was because he'd given himself that ridiculous leaf challenge, trying to bargain for her affection.

Sakura was injured, how seriously I didn't know, and it was _my fault_.

I'd told Luke that I'd wanted to stay in the background, to simply watch the story play out. I'd learned my lesson the hard way. You don't need to be on the front lines to cause damage.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Naruto. Only my OCs. **

**If I hadn't cut this chapter in half, it would have been massive… but you know, anyone who's still reading probably deserves a longer chapter after so long… Oh well. **


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